Humanity's Last Hope
by TheSuperSaiyan44
Summary: Watch as Gohan enters the world of the titans. Just what will he do and how will everyone react? Things will never be the same again. (As a side note, Gohan is only weak for the first couple of chapters because he is extremely injured and tired. I will not Nerf my characters unless they are still healing.)
1. Beware the Titans

**Hey everybody. I'm back with my first story of my Gohan crossover series. If you haven't already, check out my prequel to this story called Gohan's Beginnings to know how this all started. Anyways, I hope you enjoy!**

Disclaimer: I do not own Dragon Ball Z or any of the series that I do crossovers with.

Chapter 1: Beware the Titans

* * *

 **With Gohan**

It had been approximately 5 minutes since Gohan had first arrived in the void. He was currently traveling through a swirling black and blue tunnel while unconscious. After about a minute of this, he started to wake up and noticed his surroundings.

"What the? Where am I now? The last place was so empty but this? This is beautiful. I wonder where it's taking me." he said as he floated there motionless and in pain.

Suddenly, he started to see a bright light at the end of the tunnel. And all of a sudden, he fell through it.

* * *

 **A few minutes earlier in Shiganshina**

Everything had been a normal day. Armin was getting picked on. Eren was picking fights. Mikasa was protecting Eren. The usual. However, that was all soon to change.

Eren had just stopped some local bullies from bothering Armin even though they were actually just afraid of his unofficial bodyguard.

Armin was a small 10-year-old boy. He had blue eyes and blonde hair that was in a bob cut style. Also, he wore a white collared shirt with a light blue long-sleeved single-buttoned jacket, tan dress pants, and gray dress shoes.

"Haha. That's all it takes. One look. I'm just that scary." Eren panted out full of self-confidence as the bullies ran away.

Eren was a young 10-year-old boy that wore brown pants, a forest green shirt, a maroon colored coat that was unbuttoned, and brown shoes. He was slightly tan, had green eyes, and medium length dark brown hair with bangs that parted in the middle.

Behind Eren was a stoic 10-year-old girl named Mikasa. Mikasa was the adoptive sister of Eren. She had pale skin, long black hair with her most of her bangs parted to the side except for one patch of bangs in the middle, and gray eyes. She wore a simple white dress with a pink unbuttoned coat, a red scarf gifted to her by Eren, and red dress shoes.

"Well, one of you is." said Armin as he started to get up but stumbled in a little pain. Seeing this, Eren immediately shifted his attention to his friend.

"Where'd they get you Armin?" asked Eren in concern as he approached Armin and put his hand out for Armin to grab. However, Armin didn't grab it and started to hold back the urge to cry.

"It's alright. Thank you." Armin said as he got up on his own.

After a bit, the trio found themselves sitting on some concrete steps beside a river when Armin finally decided to confess to his friends why the bullies had been trying to beat him up.

"Well, they just heard me rattling on about how mankind's future laid beyond the walls." Armin told them dejectedly. "Doubt they understood half of it but still."

"Jerks. Why's it got to be this way? Why can't people just let us dream?" Eren asked nobody in particular. He really hated it when people looked down on the dreams of other people.

"The walls are a powerful idea. We've survived for over a hundred years because of them. Nobody's keen on tempting fate." Armin simply told Erin like it was the most obvious answer in the world. As Eren continued to look at him with interest, he decided to continue. "I may not agree with that sentiment but I can see where they're coming from. It's human nature Eren. When it's all said and done, the government's policies are a reflection of our fear."

"Yeah. The rest of the herds maybe. I say forget them!" Eren shouted angrily as he looked away from Armin and at the river.

"Someone's gonna hear you." Mikasa finally said gaining the attention of both boys. "Keep it down."

"What do I care? You'll rat me out either way." Eren retorted as he remembered how earlier that day Mikasa told his mom that he had planned on eventually joining the Scout Regiment. This, of course, caught the attention of Armin as he had an idea of what Mikasa might've told someone.

"I never promised you anything." Mikasa replied as she looked away from Eren.

"Your folks know about the scouts?" inquired Armin as he looked towards Eren.

"Basically. And they're not too pleased." said Eren with a disappointed look.

"Yeah. Big shock." Armin sighed out as he wasn't the least bit surprised by this. Not many people approved of their family members joining the Scout Regiment as there was an immensely high chance of death at every corner do to the titans that lived outside the walls.

"It's sad what most people here are willing to settle for in exchange for some fleeting sense of security. You know? And make no mistake, it absolutely is fleeting. The walls can't hold forever. Only a matter of time." Armin continued gravely as a gentle breeze started to flow throughout the small city.

Just then, the breeze stopped and everything got eerily calm when suddenly, a huge orange bolt of electricity struck just outside of the wall surrounding the city with a resounding boom knocking everyone off their feet and onto the hard ground.

When everyone finally picked themselves up, they all started to look to where the sound came from as nobody knew what was going on.

"What was that?" Armin asked as he felt slightly shaken by what happened.

"I don't know." said Eren with curiosity.

Suddenly Armin also started to run towards the wall to get an idea of what happened thus leaving Eren and Mikasa to catch up to him.

As they caught up to him and a large crowd, everybody noticed something that shook them all to the bone.

There was a gigantic flesh covered hand on the very top of the wall. A wall that was 50 meters (164 foot) tall.

"No. That's impossible. That wall's 50 meters high." Armin stammered out in pure shock.

"Oh no. It's a titan!" Eren whispered out equally as shocked as a giant fleshy face poked up from behind the wall as well.

Then, as everyone stared, the enormous titan slowly raised up it right leg behind it, paused, and swung its leg forward smashing a giant hole in the wall that had once protected its people.

The shockwave kick was so powerful that it sent strong winds flowing through the immediate vicinity causing people to go flying and large debris to smash houses and people alike causing everyone to run in the opposite direction to avoid getting killed from the falling debris too. Despite this, many still got hit and killed.

However, this wasn't their only problem. As the colossal titan began to disappear from behind the wall, a large hoard of relatively smaller but still gigantic titans began to approach the hole in the wall so they could eat its human inhabitants.

"It... It blasted a hole. Like it was kicking a rock." panicked Armin as the titans finally began to enter through the hole causing everybody to scatter in complete and utter fear.

"We have to go." Armin started but noticed Eren was starting to walk toward the chaos in a way that was almost robotic. "Erin! No!" shouted out Armin as Erin continued to walk faster and faster.

"My house is in that direction. Mom's still by herself." Eren said in shock as he started to run towards his house with Mikasa running soon after to join him while Armin stayed behind accepting that it was the end and that every last one of them was going to be devoured by titans.

But what nobody noticed, because of all the panic, was that as the colossal titan kicked a hole in the wall, another hole was forming. A small black and blue vortex rapidly started to appear in the sky up above. The vortex began to grow slightly larger until it got to about the size of a full-grown man. It then started to grow and shrink rapidly before a small figure flew out of it and fell to the ground below with a loud thud.

Below it was a certain young demi saiyan.

* * *

 **With Gohan**

"Ow. Now, where am I? Why do I hear so much screaming all around?" Gohan said to himself as he forcefully flipped himself over to look up at the sky only to see the vortex above him fade into nothingness.

So, since he had no idea where he was, he decided to do what he thought would be the best idea. He decided to stretch out his senses to see if he could feel any of the energy signatures of his family and friends.

And that's when it hit him like a brick to the face. Not only did he feel their energies anywhere but he felt the most twisted and sickening energies he's ever felt all over the place. Not even Cell's energy felt this demented. Even if their energies weren't nearly as powerful as anyone he faced, he felt the need to throw up from how twisted they were.

"What is that!? Whatever those things are, their energies just feel so... so..." said Gohan in shock as he couldn't even think of words to describe how they felt.

But despite his better judgment, he continued to sense everything around him because he couldn't move himself around much because of his injuries. He could feel normal humans around the area too. And every time, one of those things got near a person, their energy would disappear. It didn't take a genius to tell what that meant. People were dying because of these things. And what's worse, he couldn't do a thing about it. He could barely even move. It was both frustrating and terrifying.

"Mooooooom! Mooom!" Gohan heard being yelled from about a street away. And although he couldn't see who it was, he could tell it was a young boy's voice. He could also feel another slightly stronger energy signature closely following the boy and another energy up ahead of them that was losing energy. So, he decided to try and listen to what was going on with his enhanced saiyan hearing.

"Mikasa, hoist that end up with everything you got." he heard the boy say to the slightly stronger energy signature beside him. Gohan assumed the other energy belonged to the boy's mother and that she was trapped by something heavy due to what the boy said.

Then he heard a thump.

"Oh no! One of those things is getting close to them! They're going to die!" Gohan thought to himself as he tried to muster up everything he had to get up and help them but with no luck.

"Hurry up!" "I'm trying!" he heard two people saying as he continued to try and force himself to his feet.

"It's them. You've got to get out of here. Eren! Just take Mikasa and run! Now!" Gohan heard from the third energy signature as he deduced was the mother of the now established Eren.

"I want to more than anything! But first I need you on your feet!" he heard Eren shout to his mother as he finally got himself up on one knee.

"Sweety, listen to me. My legs have been crushed. Even if you can get me out of here, I can't run. There's no time." Eren's mother said dejectedly as Gohan got up on both feet.

"Now I just have to get to them and I can save them!" Gohan thought to himself as he started to limp towards where they were.

"Whatever! I can carry you!" Eren cried out hysterically as he and Mikasa continued to try and lift the debris of their house that was crushing her.

"Will you just be quiet and listen to me for once in your life!? One thing I'm asking you! One thing! Mikasa make him." Eren's mother cried out as Mikasa started to silently cry to herself because she realized there was nothing they could do to save her.

"I can't." said Mikasa as her and Eren continued to try and save her in vain.

"You want all three of us to die?" asked Eren's mother sadly knowing that what little time they had to get out of there was quickly running out.

Suddenly the sounds of slinging ropes could be heard as a man named Hannes arrived at the scene.

Hannes was a tall, well-built man with short blonde hair, a thin mustache, and golden hazel colored eyes. He wore a typical uniform from the Garrison Regiment with a gray V-neck shirt underneath.

"Where did that guy come from? And what is that device he used to get here so fast? It was almost like he was flying." Gohan said softly to himself as he slowly got closer and closer to the group.

"Hannes!" Gasped out Eren's mother in surprise. "Take the children and get them out of here!" she pleaded as Hannes kneeled down in front of her.

"C'mon Carla. That's not our only option. Hey, I'm a trained soldier. My skillset is killin' titans and savin' lives!" said Hannes as he got up and began to run to kill the titan as he pulled out his swords.

"Nothin' fancy. Just take it down. Get all three of them out of harm's way. Make good on the debt you owe!" thought Hannes full of heroic determination.

That is, until he finally came face to face with his adversary. He couldn't help but freeze up as it stood there with its giant creepy smile that just showed its lust for human flesh. He just had to get out of there. So, he quickly put his swords back, turned around and ran back to the fallen house. He picked up Eren and then Mikasa despite their screams of protest and squirming. And then he started to run the other way.

"Thank you, Hannes." Eren's mother said with a tearful smile on her face. At last she knew her kids would be safe.

"Wait! Nooo! We can't just leave her!" Eren cried out in protest as he reached his arm out in a desperate yet futile attempt to reach her as the distance between them got further and further.

"I love you! You hear me!? Stay alive!" cried Eren's mother as she remembered their lives together. But doing so made her tear up and want to continue living too.

"Don't leave me." she cried to herself.

However, just then the unexpected happened.

Just as the titan got behind the house, Eren saw a boy reach the house too. And from the looks of it, he was badly injured.

"Don't worry! I'm going to get you out!" Gohan shouted as he used what little strength he had left to throw a small ball of ki at the titan. This caused the titan to stagger and fall. Giving Gohan just long enough to look at Eren's mom, grab the debris and start trying to lift it.

"No! You have to get out of here! It's no use. We'll both die if you stay here any longer" Carla said as she couldn't see the miraculous feat Gohan just performed

Only Eren got to see it since he was the only one facing Gohan and he was amazed. He finally regained some hope that this mystery kid could save his mother.

"Stop Hannes! He's gonna save her!" Eren shouted causing Hannes to stop for a moment to see if she really was about to be saved and what he saw surprised him.

Gohan was actually starting to ever so slightly lift the house just enough to get her out out. Such a thing seemed impossible to all of them. But here it was. A miricle was being performed before their very eyes.

"Gah! Hurry! Grab her! I can't hold this up much longer!" shouted Gohan as he was using the very last of his strength to even hold the house up this much.

"Right!" Shouted Hannes as he ran as fast as he could back to the house.

He made it just in time too as the titan was finally getting back on its feet and pulled Carla out.

"Now run!" Gohan shouted as he dropped the house debris back down. As he did that, he fell down too as he had absolutely no more strength left to move. "Oh no. I'm completely out of energy. Not good." he muttered out.

So, Hannes listened to the boy and ran. He knew the boy would probably be eaten but he ran anyways. And he didn't look back. All Carla could do was look away.

"What are you doing!? Why didn't you grab him!?" shouted Eren as Hannes grabbed Eren in one arm in a way that had Eren facing forward, held Mikasa's hand in the other and told her not to look back, and had Carla on his right shoulder where Eren once was. He was determined to make sure neither of the kids saw another kid get eaten. Even if they knew that's what was going to happen.

"I can only carry three people!" exclaimed Hannes as tears were rolling down his face. He just left a kid to die. What kind of monster was he. So, he carried them all off to safety as Eren struggled to free himself and save the kid who saved his mother. And while Eren was doing that, Mikasa just had a sad face on her look and Eren's mother just quietly cried as they got further and further from the scene with nobody looking back to what they assumed would be the boy's death.

* * *

 **Well, that's it for this chapter! Just so you know, I got some inspiration from the story called Strange Monkey Boy by Trusty McGoodGuy so don't be surprised if you see a couple similarities between the two stories every now and then. Anyways, I hope you enjoyed the chapter!**


	2. The Fallout

**Hey, I'm back everybody! Sorry that it's been a few days. I was thinking up specifics that I want to do for this story later down the line and also about how I want to start off some other crossovers. Also, I was really happy to get some reviews! Now, I'm not going to respond to every review as that would be a bit much and I'd be repeating myself a lot but just know that I greatly appreciate each of your reviews and I hope to continue gaining this much support from you all! Anyways, on to some of the reviews!**

 **OmniPlanckInstant:** **You are right there! The story would be way too short if I killed him off. Especially right after the first chapter! Also, thank you for being my first review of the story!**

 **Trusty McGoodGuy:** **Thank you for the review! I really wasn't expecting a review from you but thank you for the advice! That's actually what I plan on trying to do. I think I'm going to try to diverge more from the original as time goes on and as Gohan makes more and more of an impact on the world and the cast but I'm not sure how much. He just hasn't gotten much chance to make a difference yet. Anyways, I hope to have your continued support as time goes on!**

 **Goku Black:** **Yeah, I noticed that the day after I posted it. That's what I get for writing and posting at 5 in the morning! I guess I was just too tired to notice some of my mistakes when I was proofreading but I'll try to make sure it doesn't happen again haha**

Disclaimer: I do not own Dragon Ball Z nor do I own Attack on Titan. Please support the official releases.

Chapter 2: The Fallout

* * *

 **With Gohan**

As Hannes ran off with Carla, Mikasa, and Eren, the young demi saiyan laid there among the rubble of the fallen house waiting for his death as the titan began to reach ever so slowly for him.

"I can't believe it's going to end this way. I'm sorry dad. At least now I'll get to see you again in Otherworld" Gohan said weakly to himself as the titan picked him up and prepared to eat him.

However, as it brought him closer and closer to its gigantic mouth, it stopped, and began to stare at him. After looking at him for ten long seconds, it turned its head as it saw another person running away about a block away. In response to this, the titan released its grip and dropped Gohan, causing him to fall unceremoniously to the hard ground as it began to walk towards the other person.

'What was that all about? I thought these things killed people? So why didn't that one kill me? Maybe it's not like the rest?' The boy thought to himself as he lay there in pain and exhaustion.

So, seeing as how he couldn't move, he decided to sense his surroundings to get a better idea of what was going on.

* * *

 **With Hannes, Carla, Eren, and Mikasa**

Hannes just kept running. He didn't even realize how far he had been running. All he knew was that he had to get himself and the others out of there. He, at least, had owed that much to the boy he just saw. That is, until Eren managed to squirm around to the point that he was able to bend himself enough to punch him in the jaw.

"Hey! Stop!" Shouted Hannes with heavy breaths as he began to feel the fatigue of running so far with so much extra weight.

"You jerk! We could've saved him! He saved her and you just left him there to die!" Eren cried out as he was devastated from being unable to help anyone. He wasn't able to help save his mother and he was not the boy that supposedly gave his life to save not only them but his mother. He was weak.

"I told you to stop!" Hannes exclaimed as he dropped Eren onto the ground.

"Eren!" Shouted both Mikasa and his mother as Mikasa squirmed out of Hannes' other arm.

"Look. There's nothin' you nor I could've done for him you understand? We saw him lift up part of a fallen house on his own. I don't know how he did it, but compared to that, we're weak." Hannes said in a sad voice as he sat Carla down on the ground to give them all a few seconds of rest.

As he did this, the harshness of reality was crashing down on Eren. And as tears were beginning to fill his eyes, he decided to let it out on the one breaking this to him. So, he tightened his fist and swung it at Hannes' face.

"But I'm worse." Continued Hannes as he caught Eren's fist with ease. "When push came to shove, I was too frightened to hold my ground. Your mother almost died because of me! Im nothing but a coward! And to top it off, I let some random kid save her while I ran! And how did I repay him? I let him die!" Hannes said as tears once again flowed down his face in pure anguish.

This in turn, caused both Eren and his mother to tear up as they also felt guilty for not being able to help the boy that put everything on the line for them.

"I'm sorry." Hannes said quietly as he once again picked Carla up and began to walk forward as Mikasa and Eren followed closely behind with sad expressions on their faces.

As they walked though, Mikasa couldn't help but to think of her deceased family and how close she came today to losing her new family.

After walking for a while longer though, they came across some large ships that were filled to the brim with passengers heading to the inner walls so they could be safe from the titans. So, seeing that they were now safe on a ship, Hannes made a decision.

"Eren. Mikasa. I'm going to leave your mother here with you while I go meet up with others from the Garrison Regiment to see what we're gonna do about all this." Said Hannes as he handed Carla over to the two kids.

"Just don't do anything stupid out there Hannes." Carla said quietly as she accepted she couldn't stop him.

"I will. Don't worry, I'll be fine." Hannes simply replied as he ran off to find other members of the Garrison.

But things began to get even more chaotic as the titans began to close in on the area. And in response to this, Garrison Regiment on the ships began to prepare to leave by removing the walking platforms that connected the ships to the land.

This caused an uproar among the crowd waiting the board the ships as they knew they would soon perish if they didn't get on board.

As such, people began to panic and some even jumped into the water or onto the sides of the ships as they set sail in a last-ditch effort to survive.

However, sounds of cannon fire were soon heard by those on the ships as members from the Garrison were attempting to hold back the titans with no luck.

And then the unexpected happened. The inner gates started to close.

This caused everyone to panic as they knew that if they didn't make it through the gates in time, they would all die at the hands of the titans.

* * *

 **With Hannes**

"Wait, are you out of your mind!? Don't shut it yet! We've still got people out there! Give them a chance!" Hannes shouted out in anger at his commander as his fellow Garrison Regiment members started to close the gates.

"We can't let the titans get through the inner gate! If that happens, the handful of lives out there will be the least of our problems! There aren't enough resources for the whole human race to retreat behind the next wall if they break through!" Shouted another member of the Garrison.

"Listen to yourself! We're soldiers! We don't get to decide who lives and dies!" Responded Hannes as his anger continued to rise.

As soon as he said that, two more Garrison members came running up to them to inform them to close the gate as the titans were closing in on them.

Hearing this, the commander had no other choice. So, he immediately told some workers to close the gate right that instant.

"No!" Shouted Hannes as he went to stop them but was held back. "Let go of me!"

And then everybody heard it. A large titan of 15 meters in height (49-foot-tall) appeared in the middle of the city leaving it with a straight shot between it and the gate. However, this titan looked slightly different from most other titans as it had white hair on its head and it had hardened plates of armor-like skin covering its body in patches.

It then got in a runner's stance, and made a mad dash towards the gate.

* * *

 **With Gohan**

He hated this. All he could do was lay there doing nothing but listening and sensing his surroundings. Why did he always have to be so useless when it mattered the most? The only time he ever actually came through for anybody was in his final battle with Cell.

Cell. He still couldn't believe how he got so overconfident with himself that he allowed Cell the chance to come up with a plan to destroy them all. A plan that his father sacrificed himself to prevent.

And now, he couldn't even help these people. Granted, he was completely out of energy and was in immense pain, but that didn't help him feel any better. Not when people were dying.

"I wish I had enough strength to help." Gohan muttered out as he continued to sense his surroundings.

He could feel not only a bunch of people dying but a bunch of people gathered in one place. He only hoped they would be alright.

As he focused on that area for a moment, he finally sensed the energies of that family he helped earlier. As well as the energy of that man that carried them all to safety.

"They're alive!" Shouted Gohan in a brief moment of happiness. However, when he focused more on their energies, he couldn't help but feel how distressed they were. In fact, everyone there was distressed and it was only getting worse.

Then he felt it. Another titan was approaching the crowd. But the weird thing was that it wasn't heading for them like the other titans were. And all of a sudden, it raised its energy like it was going to attack someone or something. Then it moved quickly right towards a group of energies only for them all to be wiped out.

As he felt that, he heard the sounds of a massive crash and could only conclude that the titan he felt had smashed into something. And although the young demi saiyan didn't know what, he had a growing feeling it wasn't something good.

So, with that and the fact that he now knew those he saved were safe for now, he decided to stop focusing on his senses and try to get some rest despite the fact he knew others were dying because he knew there was nothing more he could do at this time. Even though he knew he wouldn't be able to sleep because of everything that has transpired in the last 24 hours, he knew he needed to regain some strength if he wanted to survive and help anybody else. So, he just laid there trying to figure out what was going on.

* * *

 **A few hours later in Trost District on the south side of Wall Rose**

"What do you think we're meant to make of these reports of Shiganshina falling to the titans? Are they verified? That outcropping has held for a century. It makes no sense." inquired an overweight middle-aged man with thinning brown hair and a goatee.

"Whether or not they're verified, the refugees are certainly flooding in like plague rats. There's been at least 500 accounted for in the boats." Stated an older man with a gray beard and gray hair that was on the sides and back of his head while the top of his head was bald.

"The question is, how prepared are we if Shiganshina is in ruins?" Questions a young man with short blond hair and a beard as he held his forehead out of stress.

"Come now, surely Wall Maria is enough on its own to hold the titans at bay, don't you think?" Asked another middle-aged man with short dark brown hair that parted on the right side of his head and a bushy mustache.

"In any case, the situation in untenable. Our hands are tied. I say we make appeals to the central government for help." Replied another blond man in a gruff voice as he tried to come up with a solution to the problem at hand causing the overweight man to nod in agreement.

Then a soldier suddenly barged in on the meeting between the men. "Excuse me my lords! You'll really want to hear this! Wall Maria's been broken through! The titans are... They're in!" Shouted the soldier with his voice laced with urgency causing panic to spread throughout the room.

* * *

 **On the ship**

"It's gone. Our house. It's all gone. Forever." Eren said quietly to himself as he remembered the peaceful times he had with his family while tears began to roll down his cheeks. "I'm so sorry mom. I'm sorry I was always such a brat. I love you. And I'm sorry that I was too weak to save you. I'm weak. I'm not strong like that boy that saved you." Eren sobbed as he huddled up against his mom as she sat between Eren and Mikasa.

"I love you too, Eren. And you're not weak. You're just a boy. You'll get stronger someday." Carla said with tears rolling down her face as she hugged her son.

"Eren." Said Mikasa sadly as she hated seeing Eren this down.

"Every last one of us are weak cowards!" Eren exclaimed quietly to himself as he stood up from his mother's embrace and started to walk towards the edge of the boat. "No. This is over."

"What's wrong? You see something?" Armin asked as he walked up to Eren from another part on the boat and put his hand on Eren's shoulder only for it to be shrugged off.

"I'm going to put a stop to this! I'll get stronger and kill them all! Every last one!" Cried out Eren as tears of frustration flowed down his face.

* * *

 **With Gohan**

Although he had initially planned on staying awake to think about where he was, why he couldn't sense his friends and family, and try to figure out where he was and why, he wasn't able to and fell asleep shortly after he stopped focusing on the energies around him due to pure exhaustion.

"Did I fall asleep? I must've. It looks like it's getting dark out now." Gohan said to himself as he slowly opened his eyes.

So, he tried to see if he could sit up and he was able to. He certainly felt better than he did earlier but still didn't feel good. At least he could move again so that was a plus.

However, he felt absolutely terrible for being able to fall asleep while so many people were suffering. He certainly tried to stay awake but eventually the fatigue just caught up to him and he passed out.

As he stood up, he went to inspect his arm because it was still in pain from his battle with Cell only to realize it had finally stopped bleeding and the blood had dried. Well, at least he didn't have to worry about it bleeding for the moment so that was a small plus.

'I wonder where everyone went?' Thought Gohan as he looked at all the devastation around him. It really made him sad to see it. So many people lost not only their homes but their lives. So, he stretched out his senses. He could still feel the energies of those things around the area and now inside the wall. He could also feel those people he met earlier and hundreds more people inside that wall too as they all seemed to be traveling further and further away.

'Maybe I should go that way too. Maybe somebody might be able to help me find a way home or at least answer some of my questions about where I am and what those things are.' Gohan thought to himself.

However, then he looked down only to see his newly regrown tail swaying back and forth. His tail. It may have been the last thing from his home he had left other than the clothes on his back and something that he had in common with his deceased father

'Actually, maybe I better stay away from them for now. I wouldn't want to cause them any problems. Besides, I should probably train my tail some before anything else.' Thought Gohan with a sad smile on his face.

So, that's what he decided to do. He began to slowly walk throughout the city for a while until he eventually found a giant hole in the wall. And on the other side, he really didn't feel people out there save for maybe one or two people, those things, and animals.

As such, he then started to walk down a small dirt path that went off towards one of the many isolated forests he could see in the distance so that he wouldn't be able to bother anybody.

Though, after walking for a while, he began to see a small silhouette in the distance further down the road. But as the time continued to pass, he eventually was able to make out what it was. He could see that it was a small red carriage with a man in the front seat steering the horses.

The man seemed so deep in thought though that he didn't even notice Gohan as he sped by.

'He must've lived in that city I just came from.' Gohan concluded in his mind as he felt bad for the man. He only hoped the man's family survived the awful attack that transpired just hours ago.

And with a heavy sigh, Gohan once again concluded his lonely trek into the wilderness.

* * *

 **Well that's it for this chapter! I'm sorry that it wasn't as long or as intense as the last chapter. I know I could've continued it a little more but I decided this was a good ending point for this chapter. Anyways, I hope you all enjoyed it and see you all again next time!**


	3. Into the Forest

**Hey, I'm back with another chapter! Note that this chapter will be focused on Gohan's life in the wilderness. I hope you enjoy it! Now, on to some of the reviews!**

 **victor0606:** **Maybe they like saiyan meat. Maybe they don't. Maybe it'll vary between individual titans. You'll just have to wait and see haha**

 **kakarotsanmistic:** **Thanks for the support. And I'll definitely try to give Gohan some amazing moments but I won't just make it happen at every turn. That'd make it become redundant. But I will try so don't worry!**

 **moshe30350redstar:** **Thanks! And yeah, I did get inspiration from it!**

Disclaimer: I do not own Dragon Ball Z nor do I own Attack on Titan. Please support the official releases.

Chapter 3: Into the Forest

* * *

"Alright, I think I'm far enough from everyone now." Gohan mumbled to himself as he finally found himself in the middle of a dense forest with the morning sun peering through the trees causing a beautiful sight. He had spent all the hours of the night walking to make sure he was far away from the other humans.

"Now that that's done, I should really focus on treating my wounds. The last thing I want is to get an infection." the young boy said as he began to limp around to find something that would help.

However, all he could find was a nearby stream of water. And using his genius brain that his mother gave him, he came up with an idea.

"If I could just find something to store some of that water in, I could heat it up, use the clean water to rinse out my wounds, and even drink... it..." Gohan started out but as he continued to speak, he came upon a realization. He didn't have anything to heat the water in.

"I guess I could always just use raw water. I mean, that's what I did when I lived in the wild before. I suppose my saiyan biology is strong enough to handle it." elaborated Gohan as he began to wet his hand in the water and proceeded to rub it on his wounds from the battle with Cell.

"Ow. That hurts." He grunted out as he sat down. "now, maybe I can finally think about what happened."

"Alright, so let's start with what I do know. I was fighting Cell, but when I beat him, I was sucked up into some type of vortex thing. Could it have been an attack from Cell?" mumbled Gohan.

"No. That doesn't sound right. It wouldn't explain what I saw when I went inside the vortex. Plus, I didn't see Cell make any attempts to launch an attack like that." Gohan sighed to himself in frustration as he looked down at his hands. That would've been the easy explanation.

"Speaking of that vortex... maybe what I saw was my timeline colliding with another one? That would explain why I saw my previous moments being played in front of me." he said as he began to feel tired from walking all night.

"Actually, that doesn't sound correct because that's not how Trunks explained how time travel worked. Wait! Maybe what I saw was another universe I saw collide with mine!" Gohan exclaimed as he finally began to connect the pieces.

"That would definitely explain why I can't feel the energies of anyone I know and why everything seems so different than where I'm from. But that still begs the question as to how I got here from that void." concluded Gohan as he started to yawn.

"I just hope everyone back home is alright. I hope I can find some way back to them soon or that they're able to wish me back with the dragon balls. They must be really worried about me." Gohan said sadly with a frown formed on his face.

"Well, I should probably find somewhere to go to sleep." Gohan said with a yawn. He may be strong enough to destroy entire planets when at full power, but he was still a growing boy that needed his sleep.

So, with another big yawn, he laid down, and went to sleep on the hard ground.

* * *

 **A few hours later**

As Gohan slept, he began to have a dream. And it wasn't a good dream either.

"Gohan." a man in an orange gi said to Gohan from behind.

"T... That voice! Dad!" Gohan shouted as he his eyes began to tear up and he turned around in joy, only to be met with a scowl from his father.

"You let me die. You toyed with Cell and let me die." Goku said bluntly as he continued to stare angrily at Gohan.

"I'm sorry dad. I'm really sorry. I should've finished him off when I had the chance." Gohan cried out as he fell on his knees in shame.

"You're right. You should have. How do you think your actions have made your mother feel? How they made me feel!" shouted Goku in pure rage as he powered up until he became a super saiyan causing his muscles to become larger, his eyes to become teal, and his hair to turn golden in color and spike up to resemble the shape of a flame.

"I'm sorry! It should've been me!" cried Gohan as Goku stood above him.

"You're right. It should have." Goku said eerily as a large ball of golden ki formed in his hands and threw it at Gohan.

 ***Boom***

That was all Gohan heard as he awoke from his dreadful slumber.

"What!? What was that!? Where am I!? Father!" Gohan shouted out hysterically as he did a quick onceover of his surroundings.

And then he saw it. He saw one of the giant things from the city. And it had a frightening look on its face as it approached Gohan.

"What? It's one of those things. I hoped I wouldn't see any more of them out here. Well, its not bothering anyone so I'll just leave it alone." Gohan said as he picked himself up and began to walk away slowly. His wounds still hurt but not nearly as much as they did when he first arrived. His strength was even beginning to slowly return to him.

'With this much strength I probably could've easily picked up that house before and could have saved even more people.' thought Gohan full of regret as he continued to walk away.

However, he heard another loud thud behind him. And upon looking back, he realized the titan from before had started to follow him.

And then it started to sprint at him in a weird fashion.

"What!?" exclaimed Gohan as he tried to run out of the way. But that didn't do much good as the titan turned and continued its pursuit of him.

"Why is it after me? That one from before didn't come after me so why is this one?" Gohan said to himself as he continued to evade the titan.

"I don't want to hurt you! Leave me alone!" said Gohan as he tried to reason with his attacker. However, it was of no help as it just kept lunging at him.

"Please! Just stop!" begged Gohan as he narrowly avoided another lunge from the titan.

"It's no use. I guess I have no choice." Gohan sighed as he focused hard on his right hand until a small ball of ki formed in his hand.

"It's not that powerful but it should be more than enough to overpower it." Gohan said silently to himself as he looked at the orb in his hand.

He then threw his ki blast at the titan and hit it right in the face exploding half of its head in the process.

With a sad look, Gohan watched as the titan fell to the ground with a thud. However, he didn't expect what happened yet. Steam started to form around the titan's head as the blood evaporated and its head began to regenerate.

"What!? It can regenerate!?" Gohan shouted in surprise. Sure, he has seen other beings with regenerative abilities, but that never helped him to expect to see it here. Especially from something that looked so human.

"I've got to get out of here! I can't afford to fight another thing like Cell right now." Gohan said in a panic as he formed another ball of ki to throw at the titan.

So, when the titan finally picked itself back up, Gohan threw the ki blast at it and exploded its face once again and ran off to find somewhere safe while it regenerated.

'Where can I hide? These things are too dangerous for me right now to stay out in the open like this.' thought the young demi saiyan as he continued to run with what little strength he had left from all the running and ki consumption he had done in the past few minutes.

As he ran, the titan began to run after his as well. But after a bit of running, he saw something out of the side of vision. "There!" shouted Gohan as he made a quick 90 degree turn to his left causing the titan to trip trying to make the same turn in an attempt to catch him.

However, as the titan picked itself up to resume its chase, Gohan finally made it to his destination. It was a cave. The entrance to the cave was a little bigger than him but thankfully, it was smaller than any titan so he would be safe there for now.

And so, there he waited for the next several hours as the titan relentlessly scratched at the rocky entrance to the cave but to no avail. Gohan was even able to get a few more hours of sleep so that was good for him too.

As the hours continued to go by though, the sun once again began to set. And shortly after that, the young demi saiyan finally began to wake up once again.

Upon waking up, Gohan noticed it was almost nighttime.

"Wow. Have I really been here for a whole day now? So much has happened since I got here. It only feels like it's been a couple hours." Gohan said in surprise as he looked at the setting sun from inside the cave. However, he then noticed something strange.

The titan was still at the entrance to the cave but it also seemed to be getting slower and slower as the sun went down.

"That's weird. Is must finally be getting tired. Those things have crazy stamina." said Gohan in a surprised voice.

*Growl*

"I'm so hungry! I almost forgot that I haven't eaten in a day!" exclaimed Gohan as his stomach felt like it was literally beginning to eat him from the inside out.

But upon looking at the entrance of the cave, he came to only one conclusion. "I guess I'll have to wait a bit for him to get tired and give up or fall asleep." concluded the boy in defeat. He could probably form another ki blast but he'd prefer to store up his strength for now so he could get back to normal. He hated feeling this weak. He could only imagine how everyone else must feel.

So that's what he did. He waited. And once the sun finally went down, the titan at the entrance of the cave stopped moving.

"Finally! It must've fallen asleep! Now I can go find something to eat and drink!" Gohan shouted with joy at the idea of eating. But as he got closer to the titan, he grew more and more cautious. Maybe this was a trap to get him to come to it or something along the lines of that.

So, listening to his suspicions, he formed a small ball of ki in his right hand as he walked towards the mouth of the cave just in case it tried anything. However, as he approached, and even passed the titan, it did nothing.

And with a sigh of relief, Gohan ran off to find food. But as he ran, he saw yet another titan.

"Not another one!" shouted Gohan in shock as he formed yet another ki ball in his hand ready to take the titan on.

However, nothing happened. It just stood there even as Gohan approached it.

"How strange. I thought it would've come after me but it's just standing there. I wonder what else I can learn about these things. Oh well, time to find something to eat." Gohan said to himself as he released the ki blast and once again continued his search for food.

* * *

 **Three years later**

Living in a forest alone would have a high chance of killing anyone. Living in a forest with titans greatly dropped that chance of survival to a near zero percent. For anyone other than Gohan that is.

Having lived in the titan infested lands for three long years, Gohan had grown considerably in that time as he was now at the age of fourteen. His once spikey hair that resembled his father's hair had grown long and stretched down to halfway down his back. And since he could no longer wear his torn up purple gi, he opted to wear handmade animal skin clothing he got from the deer, bear, and other wildlife found in the area.

However, he always kept his left shoulder uncovered as it showed a jagged scar from his battle with Cell. It served him as a reminder of the world he came from. That, and his tail.

Speaking of which, during his time in the woods, the boy had decided it was as good a time as any to start training it so that when people grabbed it, he wouldn't lose all his strength.

"Alright, I think that just about does it for my tail training." Gohan said with as he finished up some pullups on a branch with his tail.

'So, now what do I do? I could always go back to that city I saw a few years ago. Maybe there's people living there and I can find somewhere to stay.' thought Gohan as he sat down on a large tree branch that was high above the dangerous ground below.

"No, I can't go there. It's been so long since I've seen anyone. I would stick out like a sore thumb." mumbled the boy as he rested his monkey-like tail across his lap.

"Oh well. Guess I'll just continue to live out here. It's not like it'd be that hard." Gohan thought out loud. "Well, I guess I better get some lunch!"

The boy then proceeded to stand up and jump several feet to the ground. A jump like that would easily break the bones of just about anybody else but Gohan wasn't other people. So, he stood tall and stretched out his senses to find something to hunt.

'There seems to be a small herd of deer about a mile to my left, a bear about a quarter mile in front of me, and numerous other small game all around. I guess I'll go for some deer. I haven't had venison in a couple weeks. It'd be a nice change of things.' Gohan mused to himself after finally coming to a decision.

And so, he started heading left. However, as he continued to travel to the herd of deer, he sensed one titan a couple miles away. But since it was so far away, he decided to just ignore it for now. Right now, all he wanted was food. But he would still keep track of the titan's whereabouts so he wouldn't come across it later.

They may not have been much of a problem for him anymore now that he had fully recovered but that didn't mean he liked encountering them. As the years went by, Gohan came to realize something. The closer he got to the titans, the more grotesque their energies felt to him. And as such, he tried to avoid them as much as he possibly could.

However, as he continued to hike to the deer, he picked up on the energy of something else.

"Wait, what is that? Is that... is that a person!? What's a person doing all the way out here!?" shouted the demi saiyan in surprise. In all his time out here, he hadn't felt the energy of another person so close by. It kind of scared him if he were to be honest with himself. It's been so long.

"Alright. Well, at the pace they're moving, they won't even be near here for a next few hours. I'll keep track of them too just in case they come across any trouble." Gohan muttered to himself as he once again continued his hunt. Maybe this person could be a friend if he met them. That would be nice.

* * *

 **A few hours later**

After Gohan hunted down a couple deer so he'd have enough food to last him for a couple meals, he decided to stroll through the woods while still keeping a tab on that human he felt earlier.

He could tell they were getting tired. They had been on the move for the past few hours and that would take its toll on any normal person. Thankfully, they seemed to be safe for now.

So, with that, he decided to set up a little camp on the ground and cook up some of the deer meat he had gotten earlier.

However, soon after he started his fire, he noticed something. The person was beginning to get dangerously close to a titan. She was about 20 feet from where it was. If he didn't act quickly, they would die!

'No! They're in danger! I better move quick!' thought Gohan as he jerked his head backwards in the direction of the person.

So, without wasting any time, he stood up, and turned around. Then, without notice, he took off at speeds invisible to the human eye. The sheer speed of him running made a shockwave that sent up dust from his location, blew out his fire, and sent leaves flying everywhere. Even the trees began to sway as though a powerful storm was rolling in. Such was the speed of a saiyan.

It only took him about 15 seconds for him to run from his now extinguished campfire to the person. In that time, he had covered a whopping 6 miles.

However, when he got there, he saw the titan lung at a person who appeared to be a young adult female with short black hair, tan skin, a hooded green cape, and what appeared to be a small journal in her hands. He was about to jump in but then, he noticed something odd.

The titan, slowly began to corner the girl up against a large tree. But strangely, it didn't attack her any further. It was just on its hands and knees staring at her. So, deciding she wasn't in any immediate danger just yet, he decided to observe the situation further as he tried to comprehend the situation.

'How strange. This is the only time I've seen one of these things not attack someone other than that very first one I saw. Maybe they're somehow different from the rest. I should probably help her now but if I do, we may never get the chance to understand what these things are.' elaborated Gohan as he was now deep in thought.

He knew it was probably wrong to just stand there and watch but the scientific mind in him told him otherwise. He just had to know what was going on.

As the seconds went on with nothing happening, Gohan noticed that the girl began to pull out her journal and a pen and started writing something in it. And although he couldn't see her face, he could tell she was terrified.

'Poor girl. She must be scared out of her mind right now. I am so sorry for doing this to you. Please forgive me but I just can't help myself. I want to know what's happening so bad.' thought Gohan as he mentally slapped himself. He was the worst for doing this to her.

But then, something that shocked both Gohan and the girl happened.

"Ymir's... people." sounded out the titan in a deep voice as it stared at the shocked girl.

'Whoa! These things can talk!?' Gohan thought in an equal amount of surprise. In all his time out here in the woods, he's never heard one talk before. He just had to learn more about these things.

"Lady Ymir. Welcome." said the titan while it began to bow down to the girl.

'I wonder who this Ymir person is. Could it be the name of that girl down there? Or does it have her confused with someone else?' wondered Gohan as he tried to make sense of the situation unfolding before him. It was a good thing he was out of view from either of them or else this might have played out differently. Perhaps it wouldn't even be happening at all if he was spotted.

And after a few more seconds of writing in her journal, the girl finally decided to speak. Which actually, surprised Gohan. He would've figured she was too afraid to even speak.

"What... are you?" asked the girl. However, the only response she got was moaning.

"Where did you come from?" she said. But again, the titan only moaned.

"Why do you eat us?" she asked. And again, she got no answer. This question shocked Gohan the most though.

'Wait! They eat people!? I knew they killed people but I didn't know they ate them!' thought Gohan as he felt the shock and disgust sink into him. It made him feel sick just knowing that. Now he understood why that one titan from before picked him up before dropping him instead of just stepping on him and being done with it. But that still didn't answer why it didn't eat him like everyone else.

Just then, the girl finally snapped as she became hysterical in an attempt to understand why this was all happening. She just couldn't make sense of it.

"Why do you eat us!? You don't even die if you don't eat anything! Why!? Go back to the nothing you came from! Disappear from this world!" shouted the mysterious girl. And with every word, Gohan realized more and more just how troubled these people were. And with those words, he made a silent promise to himself. From now on, he would protect as many people as he could. He owed them that much for not helping until now.

When the girl finally finished her rant, yet another surprise happened. The titan began tearing at its face causing it to bleed. This of course startled the girl but for Gohan, it made him realize things were about to become deadly.

'Not good! It could attack at any moment. It's clearly trying to stop itself from doing so though. I'll have to be on guard or else she might die.' thought Gohan as a frown formed on his face.

"What's going on?" stammered the girl as she started running away fearing for the worst. This clearly wasn't going to end well if she stayed there. She had to get away from this place and fast.

However, as she ran, the titan noticed her. And faster than the girl could react, it lunged at her and firmly grabbed her so she couldn't escape.

"No!" screamed the helpless girl as tears of fear and sadness flowed down her face.

The titan then quickly pulled her to it mouth and began to crush her head between its teeth as she frantically wrote her last seconds down in her journal in the hopes that one day, somebody would find it and know her story. But thankfully, fate had other plans for her that day.

"That's enough!" screamed Gohan as he leaped from his hiding place and punched the titan in the head thus exploding its skull on impact and causing the girl to fall to the ground.

"Quick! Come with me if you want to live! These things can regenerate!" explained Gohan frantically as he reached his hand out to the girl who had tears rolling down her face like a waterfall.

"Thank you!" cried the girl as she grabbed her savior's hand. Maybe she would really make it home to her family. For now, she just had to trust this boy. Her hero.

* * *

 **Well, that's it for this chapter guys and girls. I hope you enjoyed reading this chapter as much as I enjoyed writing it. I look forward to seeing your support, it means a lot to me! See you all again next time!**


	4. A Story by the Fire

**Ok, I'm back with another chapter everybody! Sorry that it's been a little over a week. I had more work hours this week than I usually get so it cut into my time to get inspiration and to write. Anyways, I hope you enjoy this chapter! Now, onto some of the reviews!**

 **X3runner:** **Thanks for the suggestion, but I didn't even mean to make a reference to Terminator. I've never even watched it! haha**

 **OmniPlanckInstant:** **I was sad she died in the original OVA too! But, keep up the good work on your reviews! I really enjoy reading them! I find them funny!**

 **victor0606:** **Thanks! Also, I didn't even know that was a quote from Terminator because I never saw it. I just thought it sounded cool in my head! haha**

Disclaimer: I do not own Dragon Ball Z nor do I own Attack on Titan. Please support the official releases.

Chapter 4: A Story by The Fire

* * *

As the girl grabbed Gohan's hand, he noticed another thing about her. She had golden colored eyes and freckles. But that wasn't important. He had to get her to safety.

"Get on my back and hang on tight!" shouted Gohan as the girl stood up with tears still flowing down her face. But now, they were tears of happiness and hope.

So, she did as Gohan told her and wrapped her arms around his neck as she stood against his back.

"Alright, I'm going to move fast so, again, make sure you hold on tight." stated Gohan as the girl nodded in understanding and locked her hands together to make sure she stayed on tight.

As soon as she did that, Gohan started running. The girl had expected him to run fast but not this fast! All the trees around them seemed to blur as she got a sense of tunnel vision. Just who was this kid that saved her?

After about an hour of holding on for dear life, the girl finally noticed her savior was slowing down. They must be safe by now. Titans were fast but not this fast.

"Ok, we will be safe for now." Gohan said as he slowed himself down to a walk. Just up ahead was a small area where his now extinguished campfire was.

After walking for a few more feet, Gohan finally stopped as he gave the girl a chance to get off him. He was glad he was able to save her in time. She seemed like a nice girl.

Before he could do anything else though, the girl jumped at him and hugged him as she once again began to tear up.

"Thank you so much!" sobbed the girl as she squeezed him tighter and tighter.

"You're welcome, but there's really no need to thank me." chuckled Gohan as he rubbed the back of his head. He definitely was his father's son.

"What are you talking about? You saved me from that titan! By the way, my name is Ilse. Ilse Langnar." replied Ilse as she let go of Gohan and looked him in the eyes with a smile.

"My name is Son Gohan. Son is my family name so just call me Gohan. And what I mean is that I had arrived at the scene just as that titan, as you called it, cornered you up against that tree. I could have saved you sooner but my curiosity got in the way and for that, I'm sorry!" exclaimed Gohan full of grief. It was his fault she had to go through so much suffering.

It took her a second to process what Gohan had just told her but when she did, she couldn't help but hug the boy again.

"Don't be sorry. You saved me and that's what counts. And if we can make it out of here alive, I can also see my family again. That's all thanks to you. It's alright that you didn't save me right away. I forgive you." smiled Ilse as she took another look at the boy. However, she noticed something that he said.

"Wait a minute. You said 'as you called it' when I referred to the titan. Did you really not know what they are called?" questioned Ilse. Such a thing seemed impossible, but seeing as how Gohan was dressed in nothing but animal skins, maybe it was possible he's never lived with other humans before. If so, this was truly amazing!

"Uh. Yeah. I was never told about them. I more or less just dealt with them." Gohan said nervously as he rubbed his head again and looked away from Ilse.

'I was right! He has lived in the forest all his life!' thought Ilse as she looked at Gohan with sympathy. It must've been really hard for him to survive out here.

"So Gohan, how have you survived out here for so long without being eaten?" inquired Ilse as she looked at him in awe.

If her previous question didn't make Gohan nervous, this one certainly did. He was hoping to avoid this subject altogether but he felt like he owed her an explanation.

"Ok, I'll tell you. But first, can I start up a fire? I killed a couple deer earlier and I'm kind of hungry." laughed Gohan as he started gathering multiple sticks that were littered throughout the area.

"Oh! Sure! Can I have some too? I haven't eaten in a couple days." Ilse said as she started to frown as she remembered the recent events that had occurred over the past couple of days.

"Sure." Answered Gohan as he could sense the sadness in Ilse. 'She must've gone through something terrible before I saved her.' thought Gohan with a frown.

"Thank you." responded Ilse as she sat down on a rock that was nearby. She reached into her pocket to grab her book and start writing down this recent turn of events but noticed something.

'No! I must've dropped it on the ground back when I fell out of the titan's hands! Oh well. I guess I can always relay the information myself if I make it back alive. But if not, I hope somebody will find it someday.' Ilse thought with a sigh as she looked at Gohan rubbing some sticks together to start a fire. 'Actually, I think I will make it home.' thought Ilse with a smile. Gohan truly was amazing.

"Alright, that should do it." said Gohan with a cheeky grin as he successfully lit the fire. Now all he had to do was cook the deer and they could eat. So, he stood up and dragged the two deer he killed out of some bushes.

'Good. It looks like no predators got to them while I was gone.' Gohan thought with a sigh of relief. He would've been sad if this food had gone to waste.

As Gohan dragged the deer to the growing fire, he noticed Ilse watching him with a look of confusion on her face.

"What's wrong Ilse?" asked Gohan as he caught her off guard.

"Oh! Nothing! I was just wondering why you brought both deer out to cook. I wouldn't want to waste your food." stammered out Ilse in surprise. She hadn't expected Gohan to notice her watching him.

"Oh, that. Well, one of them is for me." smiled Gohan and causing Ilse to jump up in shock.

"What!? A whole deer!? Are you really sure you can eat that much!?" exclaimed Ilse in pure disbelief. Such a thing seemed impossible. Even for him.

"Nope! In fact, I might eat some of the second deer too since I'm cooking it now anyways." Gohan said with laughter. Ilse sure would be in for a surprise once they start eating.

With that said, Gohan proceeded to skin and skewer both deer. He then stood them above the fire so that they could cook. In the meantime, Ilse continued to watch Gohan as she patiently waited for his story and for food. And with a heavy sigh, Gohan decided it was time to talk to her.

"So, Ilse, you wanted to know more about me?" asked Gohan as he interrupted the silence.

"Yes! I mean... If it's not too much of a problem for you." Ilse said with excitement as she sat up straight in anticipation.

"Ok, I'll tell you. But please don't tell anybody else. I don't really want too many people to know right now. Can I trust you?" Gohan questioned as he noticed Ilse nod her head.

"Yeah. You can trust me." responded Ilse. And upon saying this, she saw Gohan motion for her to come sit by him. So, she did as he requested and came over to sit by him.

"Ok, now, I know all of this will sound absolutely crazy but it's all true." Gohan said with a serious tone. To which, Ilse just nodded.

"So, to start things off, the reason I didn't know that titans were called titans is because I'm not exactly around here." started Gohan as he looked sadly into the burning fire.

"Where are you from then?" asked Ilse as she noticed his sad look. She felt bad for him. Maybe she could help him in some way. It's the least she could do after everything he's done for her.

"Well, that's the thing. I'm not exactly sure where I am now. All I do know is that I am not from this world." responded Gohan with a calm voice.

"Wait! What do you mean!? Are you some kind of alien or something!?" shouted Ilse in complete surprise. She knew the boy was different because he broke a titan's skull and for being able to run so far so fast but she didn't expect this.

"Well, kind of. You see, I believe I came from a different dimension or universe than yours. Where I'm from, we still have all the same animals so it's not an alien planet. But, there are no titans there." said Gohan. He knew that would pique her interest as it was evident on her face.

"Seriously!? A world without titans! That sounds great!" Ilse exclaimed in shock. This was nothing like what she had expected when he told her it would sound crazy. But a world without titans? That sounded like a miracle world.

"Yeah." Gohan said with a small laugh. "But to answer your earlier question, although I come from a parallel Earth, I'm not exactly human either." responded Gohan.

"So, if you're not human, then what are you?" asked Ilse. This just got weirder and weirder.

"Actually, I'm am half human. My other half is a saiyan. Saiyans are aliens from another planet in my world." answered Gohan with a small smile. He could only imagine how ridiculous all this sounded to her but it was the truth and he'd do anything to prove it. He was proud of his heritage because it was his father's heritage too.

"Wow. That's amazing. So, did saiyans look exactly like us humans?" inquired Ilse. Such a claim seemed impossible. Even if she had seen his physical feats, she would like to see some more evidence to back up such an insane claim.

"Actually, the saiyan race looked pretty much just like humans. There's only a few differences. Saiyans have denser bones because their home planet had a higher gravity than Earth's. But that's not all. Nearly all saiyans have black spiky hair and black eyes. Not to mention, they had tails."  
said Gohan as he unwrapped his monkey-like tail from his waist to show to Ilse, causing her to jump up and gasp.

"You have a tail!" shouted Ilse in surprise. She was surprised she didn't realize it earlier. She thought it was just a part of the rest of fur clothing.

"Yeah, I do." Gohan laughed out. He was certainly enjoying her eccentric behavior. It was really refreshing for him after being isolated for all this time.

"So, what else can you tell me about these saiyans and your world?" asked Ilse full of interest. This was all so exciting for her. She never would have believed it if she hadn't met Gohan.

"Well, the saiyans are pretty much extinct now. The only saiyans left are me, the saiyan prince named Vegeta, and his son. His son is half human like me so Vegeta is the last pure blooded saiyan." Gohan said with a frown as he stared at the fire in reflection.

"Oh wow. I'm sorry to hear that." Ilse said as she frowned. Maybe it wasn't such a good idea to talk about this.

"It's ok." Gohan said quietly as he continued to look at the fire.

"So, if you're ok with me asking, what happened to the rest of the saiyans? Did something similar to us happen where they were hunted down to near extinction?" Ilse asked as she watched Gohan for any signs of the topic being too much for him to handle. The last thing she wanted was to make him sad.

"Kind of. The saiyan race had always been a race of super powerful warriors. So strong that no titan could stand up to them. Only weak children would have had any problems with them when it came to strength alone." Gohan started causing Ilse to look surprised.

"But that eventually turned out against them. After some time, a space tyrant named Frieza discovered the saiyans and decided to exploit their strength and love for battle for his own desires." Gohan explained as he turned his gaze from the fire to look at Ilse, and upon seeing her interest in the story, he decided to continue.

"What happened after that was terrible. He essentially hired the saiyans to be interplanetary conquerors. He would have them travel from planet to planet and have them kill off the native life so that he could sell them for profit." Gohan said with a grim look.

"That's awful! Those monsters!" Ilse lamented as she could only imagine how terrible the saiyan race was.

"Yeah. They were monsters. But one day, that all caught up to them. You see, although he liked using the saiyans to his advantage, Frieza also feared them. The saiyans had a legend of a saiyan warrior called a super saiyan and Frieza was afraid that someday a saiyan might become a super saiyan one day and overthrow him. So, he did the only thing he thought was necessary." answered Gohan as his expression grew more and more serious.

"What did he do to them?" pondered Ilse as she had a sinking feeling she wouldn't like the answer to her question.

"He destroyed the entire saiyan home planet along with all the saiyans that lived there." responded Gohan with a frown as he looked her in the eyes so she knew he wasn't lying.

It took a moment for her to register what Gohan had said as she stared at him. But as the seconds progressed, her eyes widened as she realized just what he meant.

"He destroyed a whole planet!? But how, that's impossible!" screamed Ilse at the top of her lungs as she grabbed Gohan by the shoulders in a desperate attempt to keep her from hyperventilating.

"Frieza was just that strong. He could destroy an entire planet with the flick of his finger. But thankfully my dad was sent to my planet just before it was destroyed." Gohan told Ilse as she attempted to recompose herself. It didn't help much though as she now knew there were not only aliens but beings capable of destroying entire planets with ease. Such a thought shook her to the core.

"Alright. I think I'm good now. But how did the humans on your planet survive with a saiyan there? No disrespect to your dad but you said saiyans would kill off whoever lived on a planet to sell it to Frieza." questioned Ilse as she was still soaking in all this new information. "Did they find a way to beat your dad despite his superiority in strength?"

"No, they didn't need to. When my dad was sent to my Earth, he was still a toddler so he was only about as strong as a human child. But he was adopted by an old man that lived alone in the woods. My dad was an aggressive child at first but at some point, he hit his head, got amnesia, and became a happy and innocent kid." Gohan replied to calm her nerves. Which worked as she noticed her once again sit comfortably.

"After that, my dad met this woman named Bulma, and they went on adventures together as my dad got stronger and stronger. It was during that time that my parents met. They got married a few years later when they were about 18 and had me a couple years later. But, that peace didn't last long though." stated Gohan as his tone grew serious.

Upon noticing this shift in tone, Ilse leaned forward with interest. She just had to know what happened next. So, after a few seconds of silence, Gohan continued his story.

"When I was 4 years old, my dad took me to this reunion between him and some of his old friends. However, that day ended up changing all of our lives forever. For better or for worse." began Gohan as he stood up and checked on the meat. Once he realized it still needed some cooking though, he sat back down.

"You see, as it turns out, my dad had an older brother. He was evil though and only came to the planet looking to recruit my dad to help him and 2 other saiyans in conquering a planet and told my dad about his saiyan origins. But, my dad refused his offer causing him to attack my dad and grabbed me as my dad laid on the ground in pain." Gohan said causing a small gasp from Ilse.

"He then gave my dad an ultimatum. He could either kill 100 humans and join them, or he would take me with him instead." stated Gohan with a grim look on his face as he continued to recount the events of that day and his past. Upon hearing this, Ilse covered her mouth in astonishment and disgust but just decided to let Gohan continue his story.

"So, after he left with me, an old enemy of my dad's showed up at the scene. Nobody knew he was there before that, but he was another alien but weaker than my dad. His name was Piccolo. But, he wasn't a saiyan. He was a green alien with antenna from a planet called Namek. Anyways, Mr. Piccolo had been following my uncle and decided that he'd help my dad defeat him as he didn't want my uncle to come between him and his plans for world domination." Gohan said with a smile as he remembered how Piccolo used to act before they met.

"After a long battle though, my dad and Mr. Piccolo defeated him but at the expense of my dad sacrificing his life to do so." continued Gohan as his smile once again turned into a frown.

"I'm so sorry to hear that Gohan. It must've been hard for you to deal with." said Ilse as she put her hand on his shoulder. She couldn't even imagine how she'd feel if her parents died.

"Yeah, it was tough at first. But on my world, we had these magical spheres called dragon balls. And with these dragon balls, you could wish for just about anything you wanted, and my dad's friends decided they'd wish for my dad to be brought back to life." Gohan said as he looked at Ilse to see her reaction only to see her eyes brighten and her mouth open.

"That's amazing Gohan! I only wish we had dragon balls too! Then we could wish away all the titans!" Ilse chimed with sheer joy at the thought. If only things were that simple.

"Haha yeah, the dragon balls are amazing but I don't know if that wish would be possible because while the dragon that the dragon balls summon can grant about any wish, it can only do so if it is within its power to do so." laughed Gohan as Ilse dropped her shoulders in defeat. It was a nice thought though.

"So, anyways, after my dad died, we learned that 2 more saiyans that were even stronger than my uncle was coming to get the dragon balls for themselves. As a result, Mr. Piccolo basically kidnapped me for a while to train me because he realized I had a lot of untapped potential." Gohan chuckled while he rubbed his head, causing Ilse to look at him in bewilderment.

"He kidnapped you!?" shouted Ilse as she leaned forward.

"Yeah, but only for a year because that's when the saiyans were going to arrive. For a majority of my training, he had me survive in the wild all by myself. That's why I'm able to live in the forest now. If not, I probably would've died by now from starvation or dehydration." answered Gohan as he continued to rub his head.

"But you were only 4 years old! That's way too young to live in the woods by yourself!" reasoned Ilse as she tried to wrap her mind around such an audacious act.

"That's true, but like I said, it definitely helped me a lot in the long run." admitted Gohan. He then checked the food again to check how done it was. Upon realizing it was about half done, he decided to continue his story.

"Anyways, after that, the saiyans arrived. One of which, was the saiyan prince I mentioned earlier named Vegeta. The other saiyan was a bald and muscular saiyan with a thin mustache. His name was Nappa, and although he looked much stronger than Vegeta, Vegeta was far stronger and faster than Nappa. But the bad part of it was the fact that my dad hadn't been revived with the dragon balls yet because Vegeta and Nappa arrived a little early and my dad was still training in Otherworld." Gohan said grimly as he sat back down beside Ilse.

"I'm sorry that I keep interrupting but what's Otherworld? I thought you said your dad was dead?" pondered Ilse as she looked at Gohan in confusion.

"Oh, sorry about that Ilse. Otherworld is the name in our world for the afterlife." answered Gohan as though it was no big deal. But for Ilse, that was a completely different story.

"So there really is life after death then. That's a relief to know. Maybe all the people here that have been killed by the titans can finally rest in peace." Ilse said quietly as her eyes started to tear up.

"Are you ok Ilse?" Gohan asked in concern.

"Yeah, I'm fine. I'm just happy. I'm happy that everyone that has died has found eternal peace in Otherworld. Thank you Gohan." replied Ilse as she wiped the tears from her face and looked at the fire with a smile. She was really glad she met Gohan.

"Ok, well, I'm going to continue the story then if that's ok with you? I'd like to get through most of it before the food gets done because we'll have to take a break while I eat. I'm famished." requested Gohan as his stomach growled a little in agreement.

"Sure, that sounds good." Ilse said between laughs.

"Ok! So, when Vegeta and Nappa arrived, they wanted to know where my dad was. And when we told them that my dad would be back within a couple hours, they decided to wait. But as it turned out, my dad ended up being a little late so they decided to plant these weird little seeds that turned into some kind of green plant man." continued Gohan. He would have said what they were called but he just couldn't remember for the life of him. Oh well, it wasn't that important anyways.

"They then ordered the plant men to attack us one at a time. Unfortunately, though, they ended up killing one of our friends named Yamcha. He had decided to fight them knowing that if one of us did, they'd get killed themselves. So, he took it on knowing that he would die." Gohan stated with a sad frown.

"Well, I think he was really brave for that. It's not easy facing your imminent death. I learned that the hard way earlier. But thanks to you, that didn't happen." Ilse said in order to comfort Gohan and then gave him a small hug causing Gohan to smile and hug her back. He was just glad to help.

"Thanks for the comfort Ilse. Remembering my past makes me a little sad because it reminds me of how weak and useless I was back then. I appreciate it." Gohan muttered as he gave a small smile to Ilse causing Ilse to give him a warm smile back in return.

"After Yamcha died, another friend of ours named Krillin decided to take on several of those things at once and was able to beat them. Even Mr. Piccolo beat one. The worst was yet to come though because Nappa joined the battle." Gohan began as he remembered the events of that day.

"The battle with Nappa was tough for all of us. We were barely able to put a scratch on him and he even killed two more of our friends. Their names were Tien and Chiaotzu. Chiaotzu blew himself up in an attempt to kill Nappa but it was in vain as it did nothing to him other than destroy his clothes. Then Tien stepped up in a last-ditch effort to avenge Chiaotzu only to end up dead too. We were no match for him but we still tried." Gohan said sadly as his expression grew darker and darker.

Seeing this, Ilse decided to put her hand on Gohan's shoulder as he looked up at her and continued.

"After that happened, Mr. Piccolo, Krillin, and I were the only ones left to fight off Nappa but we were still no match. Mr. Piccolo even gave his life to save me because I was too terrified to move away from one of Nappa's attacks." said Gohan as he clenched both fists together and started to cry. Upon noticing this, Ilse decided to intervene.

"Gohan, if this is too hard for you to talk about, you can just skip it or you don't have to tell me at all. I've heard enough for now." Ilse calmly soothed as she pulled Gohan in for another hug. Even though she just met him, she just couldn't stand seeing him sad like this. He was her hero. He saved her life and now she would do whatever she could for him. For now, all she could do was comfort him, so that's exactly what she'd do.

"Thanks Ilse. I'll tell you the rest another time." Gohan said as he let her hug him.

After a few more moments of her just holding him, he finally felt some of the pent-up guilt release itself. "Ok, I think I'm good now. I'm going to check our food again really quick." claimed Gohan, which upon hearing, Ilse let go of him so he could get up.

As he got up and checked his food, he noticed the meat was finally cooked all the way through which also helped raised his mood a little.

"Alright, it's done. Are you ready to eat?" asked Gohan as he looked back at Ilse only to see her nod quietly.

"Ok, then let's eat." replied Gohan as he smiled at her. He only hoped she wouldn't freak out too much when she sees him eat.

* * *

 **That's it for this chapter everybody! I'm sorry if you thought this chapter was a bit slow since there was literally no action in it but I think it still turned out pretty nice. After the next chapter, I'm going to write the first chapter for another Gohan crossover but don't worry, I'm not abandoning this story so, don't worry! Anyways, I'll see you all again next time!**


	5. Return

**Hey, I'm back with another chapter! Thank you all for the support for the last chapter. I was afraid it'd get some backlash for not being action oriented! Anyways, I'm sorry that it took me longer than usual to get this chapter up. For the longest time, this chapter was hard for me to get inspiration for. As such, it took me a bit longer for me to get inspiration for it and once that happened, it started picking up speed. So, I hope you enjoy this chapter! Now, onto some of the reviews!**

 **Limit-Breaking:** **Thank you for the support. Also, I appreciate your criticism of how quickly she trusted him. The reason I had her do that was because, she had no reason to not believe it. I don't know if I made it clear enough or not but she did have some skepticism at first despite seeing how he broke a titan's skull with his fists. That's why she asked Gohan if there were any physical differences between saiyans and humans, and when he showed her his tail, it got rid of any doubt in her mind.**

 **Guest:** **I'm not 100% sure of the pairing just yet. But, I do have it narrowed down to two girls. That is, if I even decide to do any pairings. I don't really know how to do that sort of stuff so, if I do, the story definitely isn't going to revolve around it.**

 **gamelover41592** **: Thanks for your support!**

 **victor0606:** **Yeah, I don't plan on her to tell each and every single person Gohan's secrets. I'll keep the circle of people that know pretty small. At least, for now.**

 **OmniPlanckInstant:** **Yeah, I tried to make it an emotional chapter so that Ilse could form a closer bond to Gohan.**

 **javiiCho:** **This is very true. Dialogue is what makes everything important because it makes the reader bond to the characters and make them more memorable. Especially when a character gives an inspirational speech. It also adds chemistry between each character.**

Disclaimer: I do not own Dragon Ball Z nor do I own Attack on Titan. Please support the official releases.

Chapter 5: Return

* * *

To say today's events were unexpected would be an understatement. First, she was desperately running towards home. She ran into a talking titan. Then she was saved from being eaten by said titan by a young teen, followed by learning of the existence of aliens and other worlds.

Unfortunately for Ilse, the surprises were yet to end for her as Gohan began to eat his meal.

Gohan had initially asked Ilse how much of the meat she wanted to eat knowing full well he would eat the rest. So, after cutting her a medium size piece from the thigh of one of the deer, Gohan, began to dig in.

It wasn't a pretty sight either. Ilse nearly lost all of her appetite as she saw Gohan eat. He was like a wild animal for crying out loud! So, as she heard Gohan gulp down another large chunk of deer meat, she decided to ask him a question in an attempt to delay the horrendous scene unfolding before her eyes.

"Uh, hey Gohan, why are you eating like that?" Questioned Ilse as she repressed the urge to throw up.

"Thath befcugh I'mph a sagihtan." Gohan murmured while he stuffed his face with more meat.

"Yeah, I didn't understand any of that." Sighed Ilse as she blankly looked at Gohan. But, upon noticing the strange look she was giving him, Gohan realized what she was talking about. So, with another gulp, he swallowed all the food in his mouth and wiped his mouth off.

"Sorry about that Ilse. I got carried away." Laughed Gohan as he rubbed the back of his head. "But, to answer your question, it's because I'm a saiyan."

"What does being a saiyan have to do with... That?" Ilse asked as she looked over at the completely devoured carcass of one of the two deer that Gohan had cooked and then back at the second deer that Gohan was currently eating.

"Well, you see, this is actually an average meal for a saiyan." Gohan responded plainly as though it should have been obvious causing Ilse to sweat a little.

"Are you serious!? How do you keep from getting fat!?" Shouted Ilse as she tried to make sense of the situation. True, he was an alien but that still didn't explain where all that food went.

"Oh! That's because my metabolism is really high. I need to eat this much food or else I will lose all my strength and starve to death. It's sort of an Achilles' heel for the entire saiyan race." Explained Gohan as he took another bite of his food. Granted, it was still pretty big but it was still a small bite compared to earlier.

"What's an Achilles' heel?" Pondered Ilse as she watched Gohan chew his food at a moderat pace.

"It's an old saying back in my world. It is essentially the term given to a weakness of someone or something that is otherwise strong." Answered Gohan after swallowing his food. "It's not the only Achilles' heel for saiyans either."

"I see. So, what other ones do saiyans have?" Asked Ilse as she was interested in learning more about the saiyan race.

"Do you promise not to tell anyone about it?" Gohan asked seriously as he looked over at Ilse.

"Of course, Gohan. I promise. I won't tell anybody about any of your secrets unless you tell me to." Ilse said with conviction. There was no way she'd break his trust. That was for certain.

"Ok, I trust you. So, saiyans generally have another weak point. If you grab our tails, it'll drain us of all our power and ability to move due to it being ultra-sensitive." Explained Gohan as waved his tail in the air

"That sounds like a bad weakness to have. Reminds me of the weakness of titans." Muttered Ilse only to pique Gohan's interest.

"The titans have a weakness?" Asked Gohan as he looked at Ilse expectantly. If he could learn their weakness, they would be much less annoying for him. No longer would he have to worry about them sneaking up on him while he slept.

"Yeah, they do. You can defeat a titan by destroying a specific part of their nape. All you have to do it slice a spot of their nape. It is one meter long and ten centimeters wide. Once you slice it, it'll kill the titan instantly." Responded Ilse causing Gohan to frown. "What's wrong Gohan?"

"It's nothing. I was just hoping to know a way to keep them away from me without killing them." Gohan said solemnly causing Ilse to become flabbergasted.

"What are you talking about Gohan? Those things kill and eat people." Replied Ilse as she tried to make Gohan see her reasoning.

"Yeah, I know they do. But, it's just how I was raised. I was taught to always value and respect life no matter what." Gohan said in earnest as he looked up at the stars. "I will only kill if it is absolutely necessary but not before trying every other option."

"That's very mature of you Gohan, but in a world like this, that way of thinking can get you or somebody killed. I'm not going to try and convince you to go against your morals but just keep it in mind." Ilse sighed while looking down at her food she was still eating and took a small bite.

"Thanks. I'll try to keep that in mind." Gohan said softly just barely loud enough for Ilse to hear him.

"You know, Gohan, if you came back with me to live within the walls, you would be a great help to everyone." Ilse suggested as she smiled softly at Gohan catching his attention.

"You want me to live there with you?" Asked Gohan in shock. 'Am I really ready to live with people again? I don't want anybody to get hurt because of me.'

"Of course! You would be a valuable asset no matter what you chose to do there!" Ilse exclaimed excitedly with a smile.

"Ok, I'll do it then." Gohan said with a smile causing Ilse's smile to grow even bigger.

"Alright! With you helping us, humanity will finally be able to take back Wall Maria and Shiganshina. We might even be able to have the first human settlement beyond the Walls in over a century!" Exclaimed Ilse with excitement. However, what she said caused Gohan to quirk an eyebrow.

"What's wrong Gohan?" Questioned Ilse as she noticed his confused look.

"I can understand why you would need my help but there's already people living out here beyond the walls. In fact, there's a lot of them. But, the way you talk, you make it sound like absolutely nobody lives beyond the Walls?" Asked Gohan in confusion. It just didn't make sense. Surely, she knew about the others.

However, Gohan's question was like a bucket of cold water to Ilse as she just froze up with a look of shock and disbelief on her face. Humans beyond the Walls? But that was suicide. How could anybody live out there with all these titans. How?

"What did you say?" Ilse stammered out in a trance-like state.

"I said there's people that live beyond the walls?" Gohan replied hesitantly. Maybe he should've kept his mouth shut. She may have accepted he was an alien, but at least that explained his tail and the strength she had witnessed.

"But how? That's impossible. We would've heard from them by now if there were others." Ilse said in disbelief. She didn't want to say Gohan was lying to her but it just didn't make sense.

"I don't know how exactly but I know they live pretty far from here." Answered Gohan. However, his response only raised more questions for the young woman.

"If they live far away, then how do you know they're still out there? Did you travel there before you came here?" Asked Ilse as she tried to learn more about the people Gohan claimed was out there.

"Well, no, I didn't but I know they're there." Started Gohan as he took a bite of his food.

"How? Did you find some kind of letter from there or something? Because, if so, it might've been from a long time ago and they could be dead by now." Reasoned Ilse. It made sense. If he did find a letter, it could've been one from long ago before the Walls were built.

"No, they're definitely alive. You see, I have the ability to sense living things. That's how I found you before you got eaten by that one titan earlier despite my campfire being all the way out here." Gohan responded causing Ilse to calm down a little.

"I see. So, it's another one of your saiyan abilities. That must be really useful. I can hardly believe it. There's really people out there." Ilse said as she looked at the fire with hope in her eyes. If Gohan's saiyan abilities were right and there really were people beyond the Walls, then maybe they could live out there too someday.

"So Gohan, just how accurate is this ability of yours?" Ilse inquired as she began to eat some more of her food while turning to look at Gohan.

"Well, it all depends to be honest. The more I focus on the energies surrounding me, the more I'm able to sense. I can sense all around the planet even if I want to. I can even sense stuff like individual bugs or worms if I wanted to. You see, every living thing has its own unique energy signature and I'm able to pick up on that." Explained Gohan causing Ilse to stare at him in awe. That would be so useful for hunting trips and so many other missions.

"Oh, wow. That's really amazing Gohan. I have a question though. You keep saying "energy". What do you mean by that?" Ilse responded in a mixture of awe and curiosity. Gohan never ceased to amaze her.

"Oh. That's simple. It's essentially the life force of anything alive. If you die, you no longer have it. Where I'm from, we refer to it as ki. Everyone has a distinct ki signature that allows you to tell who's who without even being able to see them. It can even tell you how strong someone is." Said Gohan while he took another large bite of his food.

"Interesting. You have no idea how lucky you are to have an ability like that. It would be so helpful if we could use it too. It'd help us a lot in our missions outside the Walls." Ilse said with a little bit of jealousy. Sometimes, life just wasn't fair like that.

"I can teach it to you sometime if you like?" Offered Gohan causing Ilse to nearly choke on her food.

"Wait! I thought only saiyans can sense ki!?" Shouted Ilse in surprise. Maybe fate wasn't so cruel after all.

"Yeah! Anyone can sense it if trained properly." Gohan said with a small laugh. Ilse sure was funny when she found out new stuff. But who can blame her? It's not every day that you meet an alien from another dimension with seemingly otherworldly abilities. He'd be shocked too if he was in her shoes.

"Ok, I accept your offer to train me then." Ilse said with a smile. She then took the last bite of her food.

"Alright. We'll start your training a couple days after we get back to the Walls. We'll head back in the morning if that's alright with you?" Asked Gohan as he took another bite. Only one more leg's worth of food and he'd be done.

"That sounds good. So, where will we be sleeping tonight?" Inquired Ilse. She would be lying if she said she wasn't a little bit nervous sitting out in the open like this, even with Gohan's sensing abilities.

"Well, I was thinking about sleeping right here if that's ok with you." Gohan responded making Ilse panic a little inside, but she held it together.

"Actually, can we sleep somewhere a little less in the open? I don't really feel comfortable with it. A titan could sneak up on us while we sleep." Ilse admitted as she anxiously rubbed her left arm.

"Sure, that's fine. I forgot for a second that you can't fend off titans like I can. Sorry about that." Answered Gohan as he nervously chuckled. 'It's a good thing Ilse said that or else things could've ended up very badly for her if a titan snuck into our camp.'

"Thank you. Do you know of anywhere safe that we could sleep?" Ilse asked snapping Gohan out of his thoughts.

"Uh, let me think for a moment." Said Gohan. With that said, Gohan stared up into the sky in thought.

'Ok, this might be a little difficult. I have to take into consideration of the varying sizes for the titans while also thinking of something that would be safe for someone like Ilse. I could have us sleep in the trees but she might fall off one of the branches while she's sleeping and she can't fly like I can so she'd probably fall to the ground and die.' Gohan thought grimly as Ilse continued to wait for his answer.

'Ok, so since that's not an option, I could always build us a small treehouse to sleep in. But the problem with that is the fact that it'd take too long to build and since we're leaving in the morning, we would barely get any sleep, if any.' Pondered the young demi saiyan with a concentrated look on his face.

'This might be harder than I thought. I haven't used any kind of shelter ever since I regained my strength. Wait, that's it! I know where we can stay!' Thought Gohan as he smiled happily.

"What is it Gohan? Did you think of something?" Asked Ilse causing Gohan to nod while still smiling.

"Yeah. It took me a bit but I did think of something. You see, back when I first came to this world, I came out here to stay away from people and to train myself some more. However, I was severely injured at that time because of a recent battle." Began Gohan while Ilse listened intently.

"After that, I ran into a titan during my first night here and I was able to find a cave to stay in. I stayed there for about a month or so while I healed and recovered my strength. It's big enough for us to fit in while still too small for any titans to actually fit inside. Its only about a mile north of here and thankfully, I remember where it's at." Continued Gohan surprising Ilse.

"That's perfect! Not only will it keep us safe but it's also in the direction of the Walls!" Ilse exclaimed happily making Gohan smile.

"Yep! That's because I came here from within the Walls because that's where I initially arrived in this world. It was horrible though because there were people running everywhere and titans were everywhere too. I haven't sensed many people there since that day so I'm assuming you know what I'm talking about if you live near there." Gohan said causing Ilse to lose her enthusiasm.

"Yeah. I know what you're talking about. That was the day that Shiganshina District and Wall Maria fell to the titans. It was terrible. Many lives were lost that day and many had to evacuate to Wall Maria just to survive. However, that wasn't good either as it stressed all the resources there and made living very difficult. Many people have been sent out to try to reclaim Wall Maria since then. In fact, I was part of the 34th expedition beyond the walls before I met you." Ilse explained sadly.

"I see." Gohan said quietly. "I'm sorry to hear that."

"It's ok Gohan. It's thanks to you that I'm able to go home so don't feel bad for me." Ilse responded.

"Well, I'm going to finish eating now. When I'm done, I'll put out the fire take us to the cave so we can go to sleep." Said Gohan as he started to eat the rest of his meal.

"Ok, that sounds good." Replied Ilse as she sat quietly waiting for Gohan to finish eating.

After a couple more minutes of silence, Gohan finished eating, stood up, and put out the fire. He then silently reached out a hand to help Ilse up. Upon, grabbing it, he pulled her up, and they began walking to the cave all without muttering a single word as they dwelled on the thoughts of the past.

It took them about an hour to walk there but they finally made it to the cave that Gohan had mentioned earlier.

"Go ahead in Ilse, its safe. I already sensed to see if anything was in there and other than a few bugs, there's nothing in there. I'll be in here in a couple minutes. I'm going to go to the bathroom really quick before I go to sleep." Gohan said while walking over to some bushes that were nearby.

"Ok, see you when you get back." Responded Ilse as she went inside the cave. It was surprisingly roomy inside despite having a smaller entrance. It was perfect. So, with a small smile, she laid down and tried to fall asleep.

"Alright, I'm back." Gohan said about five minutes later as he entered the cave. However, he noticed that Ilse had already fallen asleep.

'She's asleep already? Well, today has been a long day for her. It's probably the first time she's gotten the chance to rest in peace for a while.' Gohan thought to himself as he laid down not too far from Ilse.

"Goodnight Ilse." Gohan whispered causing a small and sleepy groan from Ilse.

* * *

 **The next morning**

As the morning sunshine began to illuminate the cave, the two occupants began to stir.

Gohan was the first to wake as he had been accustomed to waking up this early but upon seeing that Ilse was still sleeping, he decided to let her rest for another hour or so before heading back to the Walls.

So, he got up and looked around outside. Morning was always such a peaceful time for him and reminded him of his days back at home with his mom and dad.

"Gohan?" A voice asked from inside the cave catching Gohan's attention.

"Goodmorning Ilse. Sorry, I didn't want to wake you just yet." Gohan said with a smile as he went to the front of the cave.

"That's ok. So, are you ready to head back now?" Ilse questioned with some excitement in her voice. She couldn't wait to get home.

"Sure. I'm ready whenever you are." Answered Gohan with a smile.

"Alright. Let's go now then. I want to let my parents know I'm alive." Ilse said with a small smile.

"Ok, but do you mind if I carry you from here? That way we can make it back a lot sooner since I'm faster and have more stamina." Requested Gohan as he helped Ilse get up.

"Yeah, that's fine. How long do you think it'll take for us to get there?" Inquired Ilse as she now stood in front of Gohan.

"Well, it took me several hours for me to get here initially but that was because I was walking and injured. Depending on how fast I go, I could get there any time from a few seconds to a couple hours. But, since I'll be carrying you along with me, I'll have to slow down my speed dramatically to keep you from getting hurt. So, I'm going to say about a couple hours." Gohan explained causing Ilse to nod in acceptance.

"Ok, how do you want to carry me? Should I get on your back like I did last night?" Ilse asked causing Gohan to think for a moment.

"Well, I would say yes but since it's still early and the trip would be so long, I'll just carry you in my arms if that's ok?" Asked Gohan causing Ilse to feel a little awkward. However, she quickly shook it off.

"Ok, we'll do that then." Ilse said nervously. She just hoped nobody saw her like this whenever they got back or else people would definitely get the wrong idea.

So, with that, Gohan picked Ilse up in his arms while Ilse laid there thinking to herself how they looked like a couple. However, Gohan didn't seem to notice the similarity as he began to ran.

"Hey Ilse, if you want, you could sleep while I carry you." Gohan offered making Ilse look up at him.

"Thanks Gohan but I'm going to stay awake for now. I'm not tired." Said Ilse while Gohan continued to run.

"Ok, but if you get tired, don't hesitate to go to sleep." Responded Gohan while jumping over a fallen log.

"Ok, I'll keep that in mind." Ilse said as Gohan gracfully landed back on the ground and continued running.

After about another hour or so of Gohan running though, Ilse finally fell asleep.

'Looks like she fell asleep. That's good. Now I can fly us the rest of the way and make this go faster. But, I'll have to be careful not to go to fast or else I'll wake her up.' Thought Gohan as he stopped for a second.

He then slowly began to lift up in the air without stirring even a single leaf on the ground.

After he was above the trees, he then gently flew towards the Walls. And, about half an hour later, he could see their destination in the distance. So, in order to not cause a panic, he landed and ran the rest of the way there.

A few minutes later, he decided it was about time he woke up his sleeping passenger.

"Hey, wake up Ilse. We're almost there." Gohan said just loud enough to wake her up, and it worked.

"Huh? Where are we?" Ilse asked sleepily as she looked at their surroundings

"We're almost there. About two more minutes to be exact." Gohan answered causing Ilse to open her eyes more with excitement.

"Really!?" Asked Ilse with excitement causing Gohan to laugh.

"Yeah." Gohan laughed as they neared their destination.

After, a couple minutes, they got to the Wall. However, Gohan was confused.

"Hey, how are we going to get inside?" Inquired Gohan.

However, just before she could answer, a voice from the top of the Wall interupted her.

"Stop! Who's there?" A man's voice shouted as he came down from the top of the Wall to investigate them.

It was a young man with short brown hair and brown eyes. He wore the same outfit as Ilse except he didn't have a hood or cape, and he had a strange insignia on his chest that had two roses on it. Also, he had some strange device strapped around his hips with what looked like swords attached to it.

"I am Ilse Langnar. I am part of the Survey Corps and a participant of the 34th expedition beyond the Walls sir! And this young man is named Son Gohan. His first name is Gohan. We are on our way to meet with Commander Erwin. There are some things that I need to tell him and this young man is here to assist me." Ilse said catching the attention of all who were there.

"I thought the 34th expedition was a failure and everyone died?" Stammered the young man in shock.

"It was but I am the only survivor. Not only that, but I have discovered something of upmost importance about the titans that I must report to Commander Erwin immediately." Ilse stated with a serious but respectful tone.

"Ok, I'll open up the gates. Just give me a minute." Said the man as he used the strange contraption on his waist to slingshot himself to the top of the Wall.

"What's going on?" Gohan asked while looking at Ilse in confusion.

"They're letting us in." Ilse said with a smile while the gates began to open.

This was it. She was home. All thanks to Gohan.

* * *

 **Well, I think that's a good ending spot for this chapter. I hope you all enjoyed it. Just as a reminder, my next post will be the first chapter for another Gohan crossover story but that doesn't mean im abandoning this story. I'm just going to be writing two, or maybe more stories at once. Anyways, I'll see you all again next time!**


	6. Home

**Hey I'm back! Sorry for the delay, I've been busier than usual with work and stuff. Now, onto some of the reviews!**

 **Limit-Breaking:** **I'm glad you enjoyed the chapter and how I'm doing the story! And sorry that it's been a little slow, but don't worry, that will change soon enough! Also, I won't be removing his tail because I have plans regarding it later on and I hope you enjoy what I have planned.**

 **OmniPlanckInstant:** **I'm sure it'd surprise everyone to see her use ki!**

 **javiiCho:** **I'm glad you're enjoying the pacing!**

Disclaimer: I do not own Dragon Ball Z nor do I own Attack on Titan. Please support the official releases.

Chapter 6: Home

* * *

Once the gates finally opened all the way, Gohan was about to start walking forward into the city before he noticed something. Ilse was still in his arms and although it didn't bother him much, he figured she could probably walk from here.

"Hey Ilse, is it ok if I let you down now since we're here now? It doesn't bother me if I'm carrying you but I just realized it might be a little weird if I did." Gohan said with a nervous laugh.

That's when it hit her. She was still in Gohan's arms! Not only that but she was seen in his arms!

'Oh no! That man will definitely get the wrong idea about us now!' Ilse thought to herself as she started to break out in a cold sweat. There goes her reputation.

"Are you ok?" Gohan asked while noticing Ilse's reaction.

"It's nothing Gohan. You can let me down now. I'll be fine." said Ilse with a forced smile, and although he could sense that she was lying, he decided not to push the subject any further and let her down.

"So, are you ready?" Gohan questioned once his friend was finally on her feet once again, and with a silent nod in response, they started walking through the massive gates.

Once inside, the pair couldn't help but smile at the sight. At long last, they were there. So, after they continued to walk towards Commander Erwin's office for a few minutes with Ilse in the lead, Ilse decided to spark some conversation.

"Hey Gohan, when do you think we'll start my training?" inquired Ilse while they made a right onto a new street. She could finally see that their destination was just up the road.

"That depends on you to be honest. However, I would like to teach you the basics of ki control as well. It could help you immensely." Gohan revealed as they approached the building.

"Really? Ok, we'll do that then but first we have to talk to the commander. Do you mind waiting out here for a minute while I go inside and talk first? I'll have someone bring you in after I let the commander know about you." Ilse said as she knocked on the door.

"Sure." responded Gohan while he stood there with Ilse waiting for someone to answer the door.

After about half a minute though, somebody finally came to the door. The person that showed up was a young woman that appeared to be in her mid to late 20's. She wore the same outfit that Ilse had except for the cape. Also, she had shoulder length black hair, brown eyes, pale skin, and freckles.

"Hello ma'am, my name is Ilse Langnar. I would like to speak with Commander Erwin. I have important information about the titans that I must tell him." Ilse said while doing some weird salute that had her right arm in front of her chest and her left arm behind her back.

"Very well, I'll let him know you are here. But, what is with that boy?" the woman asked sternly as she looked Gohan up and down taking note of his... unusual appearance. Thankfully though, she didn't notice his tail since he had wrapped it around his waist so that nobody would notice it as soon as he got to the city. That way, it'd look like part of his outfit since it already consisted of animal furs.

"He is a boy that I met. I would also like to introduce him to Commander Erwin as well." answered Ilse while keeping the information pertaining to Gohan as vague as she could.

"Fine. Fine." the woman said dismissively as she turned around and walked back inside. "I'll be back in just a minute."

After about a minute, the woman finally came back out to let them in.

"He will see you now. His office is on the second floor and is the first door on your left." stated the woman as she held the door open for the two.

"Thank you. Come on Gohan." Ilse said causing Gohan to follow her lead.

As they went up the stairs though, Gohan began to feel a little uneasy.

"Are you sure it's ok for me to come in and talk to him? I mean, he seems to be an important figure around here." Gohan asked nervously. He's never been good with meeting strangers due to his secluded life both before and after arriving in this world. He could only hope things wouldn't be too awkward.

"Of course, it is. Are you alright Gohan? You seem to be a little tense." questioned Ilse since she just now noticed Gohan's nervousness.

"I'll be fine. I'm just not used to meeting new people." answered Gohan as they reached the door they were told about.

"I'm sure you'll be just fine." Ilse reassured while putting a comforting hand on Gohan's right shoulder.

"Thanks, I needed that." Gohan said with a smile causing Ilse to smile back at him.

"Alright, well, I'll be right back. Just wait here for me while I talk to Commander Erwin for a couple minutes." Ilse said as she began to knock on the wooden door, and upon hearing a voice inside telling her to come in, she did as told and entered the room leaving Gohan outside by himself.

It wasn't too bad though. The young demi saiyan had gotten used to being by himself. He actually kind of liked it since it gave him time to just sit back and relax. He knew that after today he would get less time to himself so he decided to just relax for a bit and enjoy the moment.

So, with that, he peacefully waited there for several minutes before finally hearing the door beside him open revealing Ilse.

"You can come in now Gohan." Ilse said while reentering the room with Gohan close behind.

Upon entering the room, Gohan immediately took in his surroundings. He noted that it was a tidy room with a large square rug in the middle of it that had a diamond design in the middle of it. He could also see that there was a bookcase to his right and a large window at the very back of the room. But, most importantly, there was a dark colored wooden desk in front of the window, and at that desk was a man that he could only assume was Commander Erwin.

Commander Erwin wore the typical outfit of all the soldiers with the exception of his emerald bolo tie that was around his neck. He had blonde hair that was combed to the right side of his head, bushy eyebrows, and icy blue eyes.

"So, I presume you're Gohan. Is that correct?" Erwin asked in calm yet stern voice as Gohan stood in front of the desk with Ilse.

"Yes sir." Gohan said with a small bow before straightening himself back up. Oh, how he hoped he wouldn't mess this up and make himself look stupid.

"Is it true then that you're the one that saved Miss. Langnar here?" Erwin question as he raised an eyebrow in anticipation for the boy's answer.

"Yes, that true sir. May I ask what all she has said so that I am caught up to speed with where we're at in the conversation?" asked Gohan while he stood awkwardly beside Ilse.

"Miss. Langnar has told me that she attempted to flee back to the city once her entire flank was killed by titans. She also mentioned that the titan you saved her from was an abnormal actually had the ability to talk. That's about where we left off. Is there anything you have to add?" Erwin asked as he continued to stare Gohan down causing Gohan to feel a little uneasy.

"There isn't much sir other than the fact that the titan mentioned something about 'Ymir's people'. Although, I don't know what that means." answered Gohan while not looking away from Erwin's stare. If he looked away now, he would look like he was a liar.

"I see. So, that leads me to another question. How exactly did you manage to save Miss. Langnar seeing as how you have no ODM gear?" inquired the commander causing both confusion and uneasiness in Gohan. Unfortunately for Gohan though, Erwin was able to pick up on this as he decided to continue his questioning.

"While we're on it, may I ask why you were in the woods in the first place and why you are dressed in nothing but animal furs? Meat has been increasingly difficult to come by ever since the titans took over Wall Maria. I hope you haven't been killing any livestock." Erwin warned while never taking his gaze off of the young demi saiyan.

"It's not like that sir. Gohan isn't that kind of person" Ilse suddenly said catching the attention of both the commander and Gohan. Neither of them had expected her to interrupt like that.

"How can you say that for certain though? You just met him so I'm sure there's stuff he hasn't told you about him yet." Erwin replied before shifting his attention back to Gohan.

"You're right, I haven't told her everything about me yet but she's right. I wouldn't do that. The reason I'm dressed like this is because I've been living in the forest for the past three years. Ever since the titans invaded. I got these furs from the various animals I've hunted." answered Gohan as he looked down at his clothes causing Erwin to widen his eyes a little in surprise.

There was a moment of silence as Erwin processed what he just heard. It didn't talk long however. So, with a deep breath, he decided to proceed with the conversation.

"How did you manage to survive outside the Walls? Such a thing should be impossible." Erwin asked in a slightly demanding voice while watching Gohan closely for any signs of lying.

"Well, like I said sir, I hunted for the most part. I mostly hunted deer. Sometimes I had bear, deer, and stuff like that. I also ate some wild berries and mushrooms I found although I got sick a little while afterwards but nothing too bad." responded Gohan as he stiffened up upon the commander's strong gaze. Hopefully this wouldn't last too much longer.

"You did say that. However, you didn't say how you survived the titans that are out there." noted the commander making Gohan gulp a little. "So, how did you do it?"

"It's ok Gohan, you can tell him." Ilse reassured as she put her hand on Gohan's shoulder catching Gohan's attention. Telling the truth would be the best thing for him right now.

"Ok, I'll tell him." Gohan said before looking back at Commander Erwin.

"You see, Commander Erwin, I am actually half alien and half human." Gohan stated calmly while unraveling his tail and waving it around to prove his point before wrapping his tail back around his waist.

This, of course, completely shocked Erwin as he had not expected this. First, he learned of talking titans and now aliens. This was certainly an interesting day.

"I see. So, what exactly is your alien half?" questioned Erwin after regaining his composure. He had to stay calm. If this kid really was an alien, this could mean they were now at threat of an alien invasion on top of the titans. However... there was also the possibility that Gohan could be of help to them.

"I'm part saiyan, sir." answered Gohan with confidence. He was proud of his heritage and wasn't afraid to admit it.

"What's a saiyan?" asked Commander Erwin as he looked at Gohan while clasping his hands together and resting his chin on top of them.

"To make it short, a saiyan is an alien species that looks almost identical to a human with the exceptions of their spiky black hair, black eyes, tail, and muscular physique. Also, the saiyans were powerful warriors that were hired by an alien tyrant that wanted to use the saiyan's power for conquering other planets. This however, eventually led to that tyrant killing nearly all the saiyans out of fear of them. My father was one of the only survivors as he was sent to another planet just before the genocide of the other saiyans." explained Gohan without breaking eye contact with the intimidating commander.

"Are you here to conquer us too?" Erwin asked calmly deciding to cut straight to the point.

"What?" Gohan asked in mild surprise before understanding why he was asked such a question. "No, sir. When my father was still a toddler, he hit his head causing him to become peaceful. As such, I am not like the other saiyans before me and my father. In fact, I want to help people."

"You want to help us then?" asked the commander as he mentally sighed in relief. 'It seems he's on our side from what I can tell. I couldn't find any signs of him lying. I'll still be keeping my eye on him though. I can't be too careful here.'

"Yes, sir! I would be honored to help protect you all from the titans!" Gohan shouted with a small bow to emphasize his point.

"Very well then. I'll give you time to prove yourself as an ally to humanity as time goes by. However, I feel like it would be best to keep you a secret for now so that people don't panic." said the commander.

"How will we do that?" asked Gohan with curiosity. He just hoped he could find a way to fit in.

"If I may suggest something, sir, maybe we could enroll Gohan into the 104th Training Corps? I know it's already started but with Gohan's abilities, it shouldn't be too hard for him to get the hang of things. The only problem though is how we'd manage to get him in without it being too suspicious." suggested Ilse making Gohan and Erwin once again shift their attention to her.

"That's a good idea, what do you say?" reasoned the commander while looking back at Gohan.

"I don't know. What's the 104th Training Corps?" Gohan asked with a curious look on his face before looking over at Ilse for an answer.

"Think of it kind of like a training program for group of soldiers. The soldiers are divided into three different sections upon graduating. There's the Military Police Brigade, which works in the inner wall. They are meant to maintain order and serve the king. Then there's the Garrison, which acts as the defense for the Walls. Finally, there's the Survey Corps. The Survey Corps, also known as The Scouts, is in charge of exploration and the eventual reclamation of human territory beyond the Walls. It is also the most likely to encounter titans." Ilse explained causing Gohan to go silent in thought.

"I'm assuming you're part of the Survey Corps then?" Gohan asked Ilse after a moment of silence.

"Yeah, I am. Why do you ask?" questioned Ilse in confusion.

"Then I want to join the Training Corps so we can do that together. That would also give me the chance to protect people while they're out of the city." Gohan said with a smile that was quickly returned by Ilse.

"Very well then. I'll work on a way to get you into the Training Corps as soon as you leave. I should have you ready to enter by morning so you should get some rest since you'll have a big day tomorrow. However, there is one more thing I want to ask you before you leave." said Commander Erwin as he stood up and walked up to the pair.

"Yes, sir?" questioned Gohan.

"Miss. Langnar said earlier that you have abilities. What exactly did she mean by that?" asked the commander while he stood in front of Gohan and Ilse.

"Oh, that. You see, I have the ability to control this energy called ki. It is attainable by anybody with the proper training. I'm even going to try training Ilse to use it but I don't know how well that'll go since I've never taught anyone before." responded Gohan while looking up at the commander and then to Ilse.

"I've never heard of ki before. What is it?" Erwin asked with curiousity. This sounded promising.

"Well, ki is the life energy that all living things have. It can be used for several different things such as enhancing strength, speed, reflexes, and other things like that. Also, once mastered, the user can use their ki to do things such as flying and forming energy balls that can be used for attacks. You can even learn to sense ki. That allows you to locate individual people and things. You can even sense how strong that person or thing is if you practice enough." Gohan explained before noticing the wide eyes of both Erwin and Ilse. "Is something wrong?"

"You didn't tell me it could do all of that!" shouted Ilse in shock. Was she really going to be able to do all of that!? That'd be amazing!

"Sorry, I was going to tell you once I started training you." Gohan said nervously while rubbing the back of his head.

"That's amazing, Gohan! I can't wait!" Ilse declared enthusiastically before remembering something else of great importance. "By the way Commander Erwin, I just remembered something that Gohan told me when he said he could sense ki."

"And what's that?" questioned Erwin now giving Ilse his full attention.

"Apparently Gohan has sensed that there's people living beyond the Walls." Ilse said bluntly causing Erwin's heart to drop.

Another long moment passed as Erwin processed this new information before he once again turned to Gohan.

"Is this true, Gohan? Are you sure?" Erwin asked calmly in an attempt to maintain his composure.

"Yes, I'm positive. I can even feel them right now. They're pretty far away though so it might not be easy to get in touch with them. That's assuming they're even willing to make contact." Gohan said in earnest. This made Commander Erwin sigh as all of this was beginning to give him a headache. This was just too much all at one time.

"Alright. I think I have all the information I need. Well, you two should get going so you can prepare for tomorrow. Not only that but you need to let your parents know you're alive Miss. Langnar. They must be heartbroken since news of your expedition's failure has already reached the city." Commander Erwin stated causing Ilse to nod with tears starting to fill her eyes at hearing that they thought she was dead.

"It was nice meeting you, Sir. Thank you for going out of your way to get me into the Training Corps. There is only one other request I'd like to make before we leave though." Gohan said while doing a small bow at the commander.

"What would that be?" mused the commander.

"Well you see, saiyans have an enormous appetite that is essential for us to survive. The minimum amount we need is about three times the amount for a normal human for each meal. So, if it's not too much of a problem, I'd like to request extra food at meals. Also, I'd appreciate it if I was allowed to come and go from the city and into the forest at night in order to do some training of my own as well as to train Ilse. That way I'm in top condition for any threats that may come." Gohan requested with another bow to show respect.

"Very well. I would normally say no to such requests. However, with what you've told me, it'd be better in the long run if I agreed to what you are asking of me." sighed Erwin. This definitely wouldn't help with the current scarcity of food.

"Thank you, Sir! I'll make it up to you by doing my best as well as bringing back any of the food I gather in the forest. I know how hard it can be to feed us saiyans so it's the least I could do." Gohan said with a smile earning a small smile in return from both Erwin and Ilse.

"Alright then. I expect great things from you in the future." Erwin said while still giving Gohan a small smile. This boy may very well be humanity's last hope.

"Thank you. Well, have a nice day. And thanks again, for everything you're doing!" Gohan said with one final bow before looking at Ilse and proceeding to leave the room as Erwin went back to his desk.

"So, are we going to let your parents know you're alive now?" Gohan asked after they both got outside the building.

"Yeah, if that's ok with you. I don't want them to be sad any longer than they've already been." replied Ilse with a quiet voice.

Upon noticing her distress, Gohan decided to put his hand on her shoulder to let her know everything was going to be alright and that they would be happy to see her again.

Thankfully, she understood this unspoken message and nodding.

"Will you go with me? I'm sure they'll want to thank you for saving me." requested the girl, and when she saw Gohan nod with a smile, she smiled back and started leading the way to her house that she shared with her parents.

After walking for about half an hour in total silence, the pair eventually made their way to Ilse's house. It didn't look like much. It was a small brick house that was two stories tall and it had a small porch just big enough to fit one or two people on it.

Once they got there though, Ilse had a second of hesitation before knocking on the door to see if they were even home. However, she immediately pushed her anxiousness aside and knocked on the door three times.

At first, nothing happened, and just as she was about to knock again, she noticed the door starting to open slowly just wide enough for the person inside to see who was at the door.

The person who opened the door was a middle-aged man that had short black hair, a small goatee, tan skin, and brown eyes. He wore a green V-neck shirt, a brown vest, and tan pants. This man was Ilse's father.

As soon as the man peered through the opening, his eyes widened as they started filling with tears. However, he couldn't move or say a word from the shock. All he did was put a hand to his mouth in an effort to keep himself from crying.

"Dad..." whispered Ilse as she started to cry softly while Gohan stood at the base of the steps with a small smile to give the family their moment.

"Who is it, dear?" asked a feminine voice from inside the house. But, the man still could not speak.

Seeing as they couldn't get an answer, the woman from inside walked up to the door as well and opened it up further so she could see as well.

The woman who came to the door revealed herself to be a middle-aged woman with curly brown hair, pale skin, and gold colored eyes. She wore a dark green dress with light green sleeves and a white apron.

"Mom..." Ilse sobbed as she finally broke her composure.

"Ilse!" cried the mother as she lunged at Ilse. "You're alive!"

Then, without saying a word, Ilse's father approached the two women and brought them in for a family hug all while silent tears dripped down his face.

"I thought we lost you." whispered the man without letting go of his family. At last, they were whole again.

"I'm so sorry!" cried Ilse without letting go either. She never wanted to let them go again.

"How did you survive? We were told the expedition failed and that there were no known survivors." questioned Ilse's mother as she finally broke off the hug and began to wipe her tears.

"Actually, the only reason I'm here is because of a new friend I met in the woods. His name is Gohan. He saved me from being eaten by a titan. In fact, he even brought me back to the city." Ilse revealed shocking her parents to hear she was so close to death. However, that brought up a new question.

"Where is this Gohan? I want to thank him for saving you and bringing you back to us." said the father without taking his eyes off Ilse.

"I'm right here, sir." Gohan said catching the attention of both parents. This caused him to awkwardly rub the back of his head as he felt out of place in this conversation.

When, Ilse said that she was saved by someone in the woods, they certainly didn't expect this. They expected their daughter's savior to be a fellow scout like Ilse. Not somebody looking like they lived in the woods their entire life. Let alone somebody that looked no older than the children in the Training Corps.

"Is that true?" Ilse' father asked Ilse in disbelief.

"Yeah, that's Gohan. He saved me all by himself." praised Ilse while giving Gohan a smile.

Then without saying another word, Ilse's father descended their steps, walked straight up to Gohan, and brought him in for a hug.

"Thank you, so much young man. You saved our daughter from certain death. She means the world to us and thanks to you, we don't have to say goodbye to her just yet. We will always be in your debt." claimed Ilse's father before letting go of Gohan and putting a hand on Gohan's shoulder.

"Hey, is dinner ready yet? I'd like to treat Gohan to a meal as a token of our appreciation." asked the man while turning to look at his wife.

"Yes, I'll go prepare the table. Would you care to help me, Ilse?" Ilse's mother said with a smile after her daughter happily nodded before walking inside with Ilse close behind.

"Hey, Gohan, I couldn't help but notice what you're wearing. Is there any chance you don't have a home? If you don't, you are more than welcome to stay here until you find a place to stay." offered the man while giving a small smile.

"I couldn't ask that of you, sir. Besides, I'm joining the Training Corps tomorrow morning so I'll have a place to stay once I'm there." stated the boy rather shyly. He didn't want to be a burden, especially since food seemed to be scarce here so his appetite would definitely be a problem for anybody he stayed with.

"Well, you can stay here for just tonight then. I'll even give you a spare change of clothes so you fit in a little more around here." claimed the father making Gohan blush in embarrassment.

"Ok, if you insist." accepted Gohan in defeat. Even if he could have roughed it for the night, Ilse's father was still right. He did stick out like a sore thumb. He tried to ignore it but now he couldn't.

"Perfect. Now, let's head inside and eat. We're having stew." smiled the man before heading up the steps and inside.

'I'll have to make sure not eat too much or too fast. Erwin said I should keep myself a secret for now so I don't cause people to panic. I'm sure I could trust them since they're Ilse's family but I should still do as I was told. At least, for now.' thought Gohan as he entered the house and followed Mr. Langnar to the table.

After some dinner and some small talk, Ilse's father gave Gohan some new clothes so he could fit in better. Gohan now wore a green V-neck shirt, brown pants, and black shoes.

"What do you think?" asked Mr. Langnar as Gohan looked at himself in a small mirror.

"It looks nice. Thank you so much, Sir." Gohan said happily with a small bow. This made Ilse's father smile. Not everybody was this polite after all.

"I'm glad you like it." smiled the man.

After that, the four of them all sat in the living room and talked for the next few hours until it was finally dark out.

"Well, I think it's getting pretty late. I think I'll head to bed now. Where will you be staying the night, Gohan?" asked Mrs. Langnar after yawning a little bit.

"I told him he could stay here for tonight. The boy said he's joining the Training Corps tomorrow morning." said Ilse's father while looking at his wife.

"Really? Where will he stay?" asked the woman.

"I was thinking he could stay in Ilse's room since he's known her the longest of us here. Plus, there isn't any other place for him to sleep since we don't have a couch." responded Ilse's father.

"I think that sounds good. Gohan and I already had to spend the night together anyways while we were on our way back to the city so it's not a big deal for us anyways. Besides, with him staying here and the fact that he saved me, I'm kind of starting to see him as a little brother in a way." Ilse said with a smile and looked at Gohan, which caused him to smile back.

"Very well then. Is that ok with you?" asked the father now setting his full attention on Gohan.

"Yeah, that sounds fine to me." answered the demi saiyan with a smile.

"Alright then. Well, you two better get to bed then since Gohan has a big day tomorrow and you probably have a bit to do as well, Ilse." stated Ilse's mother before standing up and heading to her and her husband's room.

"Thanks again Mr. and Mrs. Langnar. I really appreciate all you're doing for me." thanked Gohan with a bow after standing up from his chair.

"No, thank you, Gohan. It's because of you that we still have our daughter. It's the least we can do." Ilse's father said calmly.

"Well, are you ready?" chimed Ilse from behind Gohan.

"Yeah, I'm ready whenever you are." responded the boy before following Ilse upstairs to her room.

"Alright, there isn't much room on my bed so do you want to sleep on my bed while I sleep on the floor?" questioned Ilse once they got to her room, which consisted of a single small bed, a dresser, and a window.

"No, I'll sleep on the floor. I just need a blanket and I'll be fine." answered Gohan as he stretched.

"Are you sure?" Ilse asked feeling a little doubtful. But, then, she saw Gohan smile.

"Yep! Besides, I kind of like it. Makes me feel more at home." Gohan said with a smile.

"Alright, if you say so. Here's a blanket." said Ilse while tossing him one of her spare blankets. It was a good thing she had extra blankets. Otherwise, Gohan would have to sleep on the cold floor with nothing keeping him warm other than the clothes on his back. Not like he wasn't already used to that though.

"Thanks!" exclaimed Gohan as he happily took the blanket.

'It's been so long since I've had one of these to sleep with. This is great!' thought Gohan with a smile.

"By the way, Ilse, is there any way you could show me how to get to the Training Corps tomorrow morning since I don't know where it's at?" question Gohan as he looked at Ilse getting in her bed.

"Sure, no problem!" Ilse said happily. She was just glad to help.

"Thanks Ilse. Well, I'm going to go to sleep now. Goodnight." yawned Gohan as he laid himself down on the floor.

"You're welcome. Goodnight Gohan." smiled Ilse before laying down on her bed with a smile. She was finally home. Everything was perfect now.

And with that, the two fell asleep as they eagerly awaited the next day.

* * *

 **That's it for this chapter! This has been my longest chapter so far! Anyways, thank you for all the support I've gotten so far. The next chapter I post will finally link up to the main storyline and will pick up about half way through episode four of the anime, just so you know. Well, I hope you all enjoyed this chapter and I'll see you all next chapter!**


	7. Welcome, Cadet

**Hey I'm back! I'm sorry for not updating this story for so long and I hope it won't be as long until the next time I update it but I'm glad to be writing this story again! I have a lot of things planned for the future of this story and I'm really looking forward to it. In fact, it's one of my most planned out stories I'm coming up with. Also, just so you know, I will end up having a ship in this story so I hope you'll enjoy that. Anyways, onto some of the reviews!**

 **Phenomenal Styles:** **Yeah, he is definitely going to be having a lot of fun with all his new friends! Especially since, for the first time, all his friends are going to be his own age.**

 **Limit-Breaking:** **I actually had intended to have Gohan give a small demonstration of his ki for Erwin in chapter 6 but I actually forgot to include it when the time came around for it. Plus, with all the other stuff he was telling Erwin, it worked out better not having the demonstration be in that chapter. As for reading the manga, I haven't read it just yet but I do know about future events that occur in the story because I can't keep stop giving myself spoilers due my own curiosity haha.**

 **Rawrking:** **I don't know if you ever got my inbox but just in case you didn't and decide to check up on this chapter, I just wanted to let you know that I'm fully aware of Gohan's strength in comparison to the titans and that he was only so weak in the earlier chapters because he was barely even had enough strength to hold himself up. I will never nerf a character for the sake of the story but that doesn't mean I'll have them at full strength when they're badly injured. They would be back to full strength or stronger day by day until they are fully healed.**

 **Krater:** **Thanks, I appreciate the fact that you love my writing style!**

 **violet:** **Wait, what ship? If you mean Ilse and Gohan, I'm not shipping them. They're basically going to have a brother and sister relationship with each other haha.**

Disclaimer: I do not own Dragon Ball Z nor do I own Attack on Titan. Please support the official releases.

Chapter 7: Welcome, Cadet.

* * *

As the sun rose, light shown through the single small window in Ilse's room. Normally both occupants of the room would be awake at first light to start off the day but due to varying circumstances, both were still sound asleep.

For Gohan, this was his first time sleeping indoors in the last three years. It was definitely a nice change of pace from sleeping in the forest where titans would start trying to eat him as he slept. Even if they weren't a threat to him now that he was healed but it was still annoying when they wouldn't let you sleep past sunrise.

As for Ilse, with all the stress she had dealt with of losing her allies in battle, almost getting eaten alive, and worrying that she'd never make it home, she was just exhausted.

Their slumber didn't last long though as Mrs. Langnar knocked on the bedroom door waking the two.

"Y...yeah?" Ilse stammered out while rubbing her eyes. Meanwhile, Gohan stretched on the floor before he drowsily sat up.

"Sorry for waking you but it's morning. Also, we have an unexpected visitor. I'll let you see who it is for yourself when you get downstairs." Mrs. Langnar said with a smile before heading downstairs herself.

With that said, the two got up, got properly dressed, and went downstairs. When they got there, they were surprised to see who it was.

"Commander Erwin!?" Ilse asked in surprise before saluting to the man. Seeing this, Gohan attempted to imitate the action as well. However, Erwin just raised his hand to relieve the two.

"Hello. I'm sorry for the intrusion but I wanted to let you both know that I was able to get Gohan into the Training Corps as well as making it so he had the proper amount of food to compensate for his... unusual appetite." Commander Erwin said as he stood in front of the two.

"That's alright. And thank you for everything Commander." Ilse said with a smile.

"Also, I would like a private word with the two of you as well. Mind if we step outside?" Erwin requested before turning and heading out the door and down the steps.

With him leading the way, both Gohan and Ilse followed the Commander outside only to see him waiting for them.

"Gohan, you said that you are going to train Ilse to use this ki that you mentioned yesterday, correct?" Commander Erwin asked as he turned his attention to the young hybrid.

"Yes, Sir. Why do you ask?" wondered Gohan in confusion.

"Well, with everything that I was trying to process yesterday, I had forgotten to request something of you." Erwin said making Gohan and Ilse look at each other in confusion for a brief second before turning their gaze back to Erwin.

"What's that?" Gohan asked with uncertainty in his voice.

"I would like to see you demonstrate at least one of these powers. As well as see how you yourself fight off the titans. I figured since you're going to be training Ilse, this could also be of benefit to her." stated the Commander while giving the two a completely indifferent look.

"Sure. But don't I have to be at the Training Corps soon?" Gohan asked the Commander.

"Yes, but I've talked to them already and I've informed them that you will be joining them around noontime. Besides, they will be having a special training exercise this morning so, this way, you won't be interrupting their exercise." Commander Erwin explained in a completely indifferent tone.

"Ok, so where will we go then?" Ilse questioned as she decided to make herself known to the conversation.

"I was thinking of heading out into the forest on horseback. Once there, Gohan will demonstrate his abilities, and with luck, we will even find a titan so that Gohan can prove that he is as powerful as he claims to be." explained the man as both of the two nodded in agreement.

So, they did just that. It took them a couple of hours to get there, but, they finally made it.

Ilse even seemed to be relaxed due to Gohan being with them. So much so that she didn't even bother to bring her ODM gear with her. This detail certainly didn't go unnoticed by Erwin, however, he opted to still wear his just in case things didn't turn out as planned.

Finally, they stood in a small clearing just beyond the tree line. This is where Commander Erwin had decided it would be best for Gohan to show off his abilities. It was an ideal location after all as it gave Gohan plenty of elbow room but also gave them access to the trees should things go south.

"Now that we're here, is there anything in particular that either of you would like to see me do first?" Gohan asked the two in front of him as he prepared for a demonstration.

"You said that you can fly and make energy blasts, can we see those first?" Ilse asked eagerly. She couldn't help it. Just the idea of being able to fly through the skies or kill titans without having to get up close and personal just made her all excited.

"I would like to see that as well if you don't mind." added Commander Erwin and although he didn't outwardly show it, he too was excited to see if Gohan's claims were true.

'If what he says is true, then he could be the key to victory for humanity. Especially if he can train others but for now, Ilse should be the only one he trains. He did say he's never trained anybody after all. She could be used as a test to see if he can actually teach somebody these skills of his.' Commander Erwin mused to himself.

"Ok." was the only response Gohan gave as he slowly raised into the air. He floated just above their heads so that he could see their reactions.

What he saw didn't surprise him and it kind of brought a smile to his face. Not only Ilse but even the stoic Commander Erwin was looking at him with wide eyes.

So, he decided to perform a little show for them and rose even higher before flying in large circles above them before coming back down and landing in front of them with his smile still plastered on his face.

"That was incredible!" Ilse shouted in pure amazement. If Gohan didn't know any better, he would've thought her eyes were glowing with excitement.

"Wow. That was amazing." Commander Erwin said in awe. "So, what do these energy blasts of yours look like?"

"Well, that depends on how much power I put into it. How destructive do you want it to be?" questioned the demi saiyan as he waited for their answer.

"How about as strong as you can make it?" suggested Commander Erwin making Gohan begin to sweat nervously.

"I'm sorry but I can't do that. That'd be too catastrophic." replied the boy before suggesting something else. "How about just as destructive as I can make it without causing too much damage?"

To this, Commander Erwin and Ilse simply nodded making Gohan sigh and rose into the air once again. He wasn't sure if it was a sigh of relief or not though because he still wouldn't like to destroy stuff but he had promised a demonstration.

'Alright, I just need to find somewhere without any life. There!' Gohan thought to himself before aiming his hand at a small hill just to his left.

What Ilse and Erwin saw next left them in shock. First, Gohan's hand started to glow blue. Then, a little ball of what looked to be light flew towards a hill at high speeds. And finally, the ball grew in size, dug a large trench into the hill, and exploded making a massive crater where the hill once was.

"No way..." murmured Ilse in utter shock as Commander Erwin just looked at the incredible display of power with wide eyes.

Satisfied with his results, Gohan descended to the ground and landed in front of the pair while he waited for whatever they asked of him next.

However, not a single word was said as Ilse tried to grasp what she saw and Erwin thought of the implications of such power and how beneficial it could become.

"Guys?" Gohan asked snapping all attention on him once again.

"Sorry Gohan. I was just surprised. You really are strong! I bet you could destroy every single titan out there without even trying. Even the colossal titan and the armored titan." Ilse complimented as she sat down on the hard ground in wonder.

"Colossal and armored titan?" Gohan asked hoping for an explanation. It was then that Erwin spoke up.

"They are the titans that are primarily responsible for the fall of both Shiganshina District and Wall Maria." began Erwin as both Gohan and Ilse listened attentively.

"The colossal titan was reported to be so large that it was even taller than the Walls themselves. It then smashed a hole in the Walls allowing numerous smaller titans to enter the city. Then, just as things couldn't get any worse, they did. Out of nowhere, a titan covered in some kind of body armor seemingly appeared out of nowhere and rammed the gate from Shiganshina to the interior of Wall Maria. Because of this, humanity lost one third of its territory and lost many lives. Or at least, it seemed at the time as we now know there's other residing beyond the Walls as well." Erwin explained to the young boy causing him to look down at the ground in remorse.

"I believe that was the day I arrived in this world. I wanted to help so badly but I was too injured and out of strength because of intense battle to barely even stay conscious. I was able to save one group of people but that was all." Gohan said sadly as tears started to form in his eyes.

"You said you managed to save some people regardless of this, correct? Well, that just shows your true character Gohan. Even though you were barely hanging on after your battle, you still managed to save others against impossible odds. Not only that but you opened up a future for those who you saved. They could even be out there right now fighting off the titans for the sake of others because of you right now. You should be proud." Commander Erwin said while putting a hand on Gohan's left shoulder.

"Commander Erwin is right, Gohan. There's no need to cry. You're a hero but a hero can't save everyone all the time. What matters is that you still do your best to save others no matter the odds. That's what makes a hero." Ilse continued and pulled Gohan in for a comforting hug.

"Thank you. I needed to hear that." replied the demi saiyan as he wiped the tears off his face causing the two with him to give him small smiles in response.

"So, what do you want me to show you next? You mentioned something about wanting to see me face off against a titan?" asked Gohan as he was now ready for whatever they asked of him.

"I did say that but seeing what you did to that hill as well as your ability to fly, that is now unnecessary to do. Besides, we should start heading back so that you can make it to the Training Corps at noon." Commander Erwin responded as he got on his horse and waited for the two to follow suit.

In response, Gohan and Ilse merely nodded as they got on their shared horse and prepared for their trip back home.

* * *

When they finally got back to the city, Ilse and Gohan said their goodbyes and thanks to Erwin before heading off to training area of the Training Corps.

After about half an hour of travel, they eventually came across a large barren area that appeared be dug out into the ground a little. On the outside there was a barbwire fence surrounding the area. But on the inside were several small wooden buildings and structures. There were also two dirt paths going from the inside of the hole to the outside so that people could come in and out of the area.

As Gohan and Ilse got closer to the gate of this place, Gohan also noticed several people out in the field practicing to fight.

'I see. So, there is some basic hand-to-hand combat taught here as well. That much should be easy for me but I wonder what else I'll have to do.' Gohan thought to himself before Ilse quietly spoke to him.

"Gohan, don't forget what Commander Erwin said about keeping a low profile for now. That also means you have to keep your tail hidden at all times." Ilse said as they arrived at the gate with as a man stood in front of it. Upon hearing this, Gohan subtly slipped his tail to the inside of his pants.

The man in front of the gate was much taller than most of the people Gohan had seen during his time here. He was also slightly tan, bald with prominent forehead wrinkles, yellow-green eyes, a goatee on his chin, prominent cheek bones, and dark circles surrounding his eyes. This man wore white pants, a gray button up shirt, a belt, brown knee-high boots, and an open olive brown trench coat with badges on both shoulders and on the left side of his chest. His badges were like the other ones Gohan had seen except his badges had two swords crossing each other forming the letter X.

"So, you've finally arrived, huh? It's about time." the man said strictly causing Gohan to gulp in nervousness as he felt that he already got on the man's bad side.

"Sorry about that Sir, Commander Erwin wanted to talk to us before we got here." Ilse apologized and did the same salute that she had given to Erwin. Upon hearing her words, the man shifted his gaze to the young demi saiyan.

"I see... Erwin explained to me that this boy is exceptionally skilled and that he was found beyond the Walls. Normally such a thing would get someone arrested as leaving the Walls and entering titan territory is illegal for citizens to do but it would appear that Erwin pulled some strings to prevent such a thing from happening." replied the man making Gohan widen his eyes.

"However, even with your unusual circumstances, I will not allow a new recruit to not show me the proper respect. The next time you address me, you better give me a proper salute, boy! Otherwise, you will be punished!" yelled the man making Gohan quickly bow and apologize.

The man then decided to get on with his introduction speech that he gave to all new recruits.

"Straighten that spine, maggot!" began the man causing Gohan to yelp in surprise and immediately do as he was told. "As of now you are part of the 104th cadet boot camp! Allow me to introduce myself, I'm Commandant Keith Shadis, and you will grow to hate me! Training is going to be a white-knuckle ride through h**l! If I've done my job, you'll be waking up in a cold sweat from memories of this place every night for the rest of your miserable life!"

"Right now, you're nothing! Livestock. But over the next two soul crushing years, you'll learn to take down your own Goliath! Remember this moment when you come face-to-face with him. 'Cause here's where you ask yourself: Am I a fighter or am I feed? Am I going to be ground up to pulpy human grist between boulder sized incisors? Or am I gonna be the one to bite?" Keith shouted in an attempt to both motivate and prepare the young man in front of him for what was to come.

What he didn't know though was that the titans were practically no problem for Gohan at all. Not when he had enough strength to easily destroy the entire planet without even transforming into a super saiyan.

"Now then, what do they call you!?" Demanded Keith in an attempt to intimidate the boy.

"My name is Son Gohan, Sir! Son is my family name and Gohan is my given!" Gohan shouted back while trying his best to give his instructor a proper salute. However...

"You have it backwards Son Gohan." Keith angrily declared as he picked Gohan up by his head through his long hair. "I know that you were never taught it but you should've picked it up by now. This salute represents the resolve in your heart to fight those bent on the systematic destruction of our people. You remind me a bit of another cadet who made the same mistake except he was scrawnier than you."

With that said, Keith released his grip on Gohan's head causing him to fall back to the ground. However, Gohan caught himself and stood straight back up as though nothing had happened. He then attempted to salute the man again and did it correctly this time.

"Good, it appears that you are a fast learner. Maybe all the food we will have to spend on you won't be wasted. Just know that with all the food we are giving you, you will have to work twice as hard to make up for it. Meet me with the other cadets down there on the field to see if you really have what it takes to be here. But first, cut your hair. It'll just get in your way." Keith told Gohan before heading inside the gate and down to the field where all the other cadets Gohan had seen were.

"Sorry about him Gohan. He just acts all tough to prepare you for what's to come." Ilse apologized before Gohan smiled.

"It's alright. In fact, he kind of reminds me of Mr. Piccolo when he first started training me." Gohan said while smiling.

"Well, at least let me cut your hair before you go, ok?" Ilse offered.

"Ok, thank you, Ilse. I really appreciate it. I've never actually cut it myself before so I was a bit nervous to do it myself." Laughed Gohan as he awkwardly rubbed the back of his head.

"You're welcome, Gohan. I'll cut it however you like." Ilse smiled back.

An hour later, Gohan walked back up to the gates to enter the training but this time, his hair was much shorter than earlier. It was a bit difficult to do so, but Ilse had managed to cut his hair to his liking. His spiky hair stood almost completely upwards save for a single bang that hung down in the middle of his face. (The same hairstyle he had in the Saiyaman saga.)

He was also dressed in a standard Training Corps uniform. This consisted of Gohan's green V-neck shirt that Mr. Langnar gave him, white pants, a belt on top of a black sash, brown knee-high boots, and a brown open jacket with the Training Corps badge on the back, left chest, and the shoulders.

His outfit also had several buckles on it. One of the buckles went across his chest, looped over his shoulders, and connected to buckles on his belt by an additional two straps on each side of his body underneath his jacket. There were also four more belts on his legs with two on each thigh but also connecting to his boots and his belt with the help of more buckles.

As he approached the gates, the men guarding them, let him enter as they had been given orders to do so. So, as Gohan made his way to the field where he was to be tested, he saw numerous other people standing around waiting for him in front of who he could only assume was his instructor from earlier and a few other people.

He also saw a few large structures in front of these people. The structures appeared to be large wooden tripods with some kind of metal mechanism on the top of it. As he got closer though, he could see that a few people were hooking up cables to the tripod.

'That must be how they plan on testing me. I wonder what they'll make me do.' Gohan mused to himself.

A couple minutes later, Gohan finally arrived at the strange tripod and stood in front of Keith Shadis once more. Upon looking him over from head to toe, Keith nodded before speaking.

"I see you've finally changed into some proper clothing and got that haircut. Now then, it's aptitude time for you so listen up! I don't care what Commander Erwin's says about you, there is no place here for you if you cannot perform! If you fail, you will be shipped to the fields!" Keith screamed in Gohan's face as two men hooked a cable from the tripod on large buckles on both sides of Gohan's belt.

'Wait, what's going on!?' Gohan panicked to himself as he was then hoisted a foot into the air by the cables on his waist.

However, since flying was as natural as breathing air for the young half saiyan, he subconsciously stayed completely steady throughout the entire time he was hoisted up and didn't falter a single bit even as he looked around him in obvious confusion in an attempt to figure out what was going on.

'Interesting. It's almost as though he has been doing this his whole life. The kid's a natural.' Keith internally thought without taking his eyes off the boy before him.

"Lower him." Keith commanded as the two men beside Gohan complied. Once Gohan's feet were back on the ground, he looked towards Keith in utter confusion as to what just happened.

"Congrats, Son, you passed. Meet with the other trainees on the field for some combat exercises in half an hour." continued Keith leaving Gohan very confused as to why he was hoisted in the air as he left to go supervise said trainees now.

Soon after that, the group that had watched Gohan to see if he passed also dispersed with most of them heading towards a large field leaving Gohan to come to the conclusion that they were the trainees that were mentioned.

However, since Gohan was generally a little shy by nature, he opted to just follow them to the training field instead of mingling and getting to know people.

Before too long though, Gohan had caught up with the group and he waited at the field for any further instructions. It wasn't a long wait though because within five minutes of being there, Keith came back up to him and handed him a small wooden knife.

"Use this. For this exercise, you must team up in pairs. One of you will be a rogue while the other tries to evade and counter. After a while, switch with your partner so that both of you can gain the proper experience." stated Keith while Gohan studied the knife in his hand.

"Ok, thank you. I really appreciate you letting me join so late." Gohan said with a small bow as Keith just stared at him.

"Don't thank me, I didn't do this for you. Now get to work. Since you're getting such special meal privileges and get to leave during the night, I expect ten times the hard work. Now then, get to it." Keith stated before he turned around and walked away leaving Gohan to find a partner on his own.

As Gohan was walking around to find a partner, he eventually saw a tall guy with a dark green shirt underneath his jacket. Gohan also noticed that he had a strongly built body, a defined face, hazel eyes, and short blonde hair that parted in the middle.

He could also see that this man seemed to be sparring with a shorter guy with slightly tan skin, medium length brown hair with bangs that went half way down his forehead, green eyes, and that he had a tan colored shirt underneath his jacket.

As Gohan got closer to the pair to see if either of them would be his partner since with his experience, he could tell they were one of the few people that were actually taking this training seriously. He could see that the brown hair guy was getting the advantage as he had just landed a palm strike on the blonde's chest.

With his opponent temporarily stunned, the brown-haired guy then grabbed his partner's left hand with his own left hand, grabbed him by his left shoulder, flipped him into the air, and slammed him onto the ground on his back thus declaring him the victor in their matchup.

After a painful grunt from the blonde, the guy with brown hair let out a hand for him to grab.

"Sorry man, I really gotta learn to hold back." the brown-haired guy said before helping his partner up.

"It's alright. Let's see how you do as the rogue." the blonde guy said as he held out the knife. However, his partner never grabbed it as he just stared at it in thought.

"What're you waiting on?" asked the blonde as his partner still stared at the knife.

"This training doesn't make sense. We're not exactly picking fights with someone our own size. A guy would have to be stupid to use this. I mean, a knife?" responded the brown-haired guy in thought after finally grabbing the knife.

"What if there's not an option? The fight doesn't give us a say. If it wants to get ugly, it gets ugly. It's our job to be prepared." the blonde guy shot back.

"The enemy comes in many forms. Artillery is not always going to be the answer. Soldiers, the ones worth their salt anyway, are ready for anything. Don't believe me? Look." the blonde continued as he looked over at a short girl nearby minding her own business and not participating at all.

This girl had moderately short blonde hair that had bangs on both sides of her face but were parted in the middle so she could see and the rest of her hair was pulled back into a bun. She also had pale skin, an oval-shaped face, gloomy looking blue eyes.

"He's right, you know?" Gohan said as he spoke from behind the pair as they watched said girl.

"Sorry, I didn't realize you were there. Hey, you're that guy from earlier." the blonde man said in recognition once him and his partner turned around to face Gohan.

"Yeah." Gohan said as he awkwardly rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment before recomposing himself.

"Anyways, I'm Gohan. It's nice to meet you." chimed Gohan while giving a hand to shake.

"Hello, Gohan. I'm Reiner. It's nice to meet you as well." responded the blonde guy as he shook Gohan's hand.

"And I'm Eren. It's nice to meet you too." said the brown-haired guy as he shook Gohan's hand as well after Reiner finished his introduction.

'Eren? Why does that name sound familiar?' Gohan wondered as he shook Eren's hand.

"Anyways, about that girl you mentioned earlier, the only thing she's ready for is any chance to slack off. Don't you agree?" Eren concluded as they watched her walk around aimlessly.

"You think so? Maybe somebody ought to give her a talking to? Give her a little hard knocks lesson in preparedness?" suggested Reiner as he pulled both Gohan and Eren in for his crazy scheme.

"I'm not really sure about that. It's her choice after all." Gohan countered before it was dismissed by Reiner entirely as he had already gone off to confront the girl.

"Commandant not beating you down enough? Keep it up, you'll be as flat as dirt you're walking on. I suggest you think back to why you enlisted in the first place." Reiner arrogantly declared in hopes of provoking the girl to fight.

This seemed to do the trick though because when Gohan and Eren walked up to them to ask what Reiner was doing, they immediately saw that she had look on her face that screamed she was ready to kill somebody.

'I've seen that look before.' Gohan thought to himself as he looked into her icy blue eyes of pure rage.

As him and Eren looked at the girl in front of them, Reiner approached Eren and Gohan's backs and placed his hands on their shoulders.

"Ok, now go get her." smiled Reiner as he pushed Eren forward despite his protest.

As the pair approached her, the girl took a defensive stance. Her stance was similar to that of a boxer's. Her right leg was facing slightly behind her while her arms, her arms were bent at a 90-degree angle, and her fist were positioned close to her face.

'Interesting... it seems she has fighting experience.' Gohan thought to himself while studying this mysterious girl's stance.

Eren, however, was a little intimidated by this girl's stance but he decided to try anyways.

"Right. I hope you don't expect me to hold back. Heads up!" shouted Eren as he blindly charged at her hoping to catch her off guard.

Eren's full blown charge was in vain though because in a split second, the girl dodged his knife and kicked him hard in the shin making him trip while wincing in pain.

"Son of a... That was a dirty move." declared Eren while picking himself back off the hard ground, only to fall back down as he grasped his aching shin.

"Are we done here?" the girl questioned quite irritably as she turned to look at Gohan and Reiner.

"Not just yet. You know the drill, take up the dagger." Reiner said as calmly as he possibly could. It was clear to see that he too was intimidated, even if he tried to hide it.

Then, with a sigh, the girl turned back to Eren who had finally just managed to grab his bearings and picked himself off the ground.

"No, wait! This isn't how... Oh no!" Eren blabbered out before the girl rushed him.

But she didn't stop there, she maneuvered herself behind him and used her left arm to press against his neck while holding his wrist and knife with her right hand. She then kicked Eren in the back of the leg as she held him causing him to lose his balance and once again fall backwards onto the ground.

All of it happened in a mere second. Then, without even bothering herself to look at Eren as he landed on the ground, she walked away to toss Reiner the knife.

"There. So, you ready to take me on yourself yet or what?" the girl asked coolly while moving the hair out of her eyes. However, Reiner was still very intimidated.

"Uh... Not exactly." Reiner responded nervously. This, however, did not sit well with Eren who was still on the ground looking Reiner in the eyes.

"Don't you dare. She's got a lesson coming, right? You go get her." Eren said with a face that sought out revenge. All Reiner could do though was stand there until he finally decided to accept his fate.

"Yeah. A soldier can't really afford to back down either. Get ready, here I come..." Reiner began before the girl stopped him midsentence and did the same move she did to Eren on him.

As soon as Reiner was on the ground, the girl once again tried to take her leave not even bothering to ask Gohan if he wanted a turn as she was sure it would just end the same way.

"That's some technique you've got. Who taught you to fight like that?" Eren questioned while sitting on the ground. Gohan, however, walked over to him and offered a hand up to which Eren accepted and was pulled to his feet.

"My father did." answered the girl taking a moment to stop and listen to the boy.

"You pioneer it or...?" began Eren before the girl cut him off.

"Does it really matter?" she began in a condescending tone. "It's pointless, just like all of this."

"Wait, you mean the training in general?" asked Eren not fully understanding what the blonde was getting at.

"Hand-to-hand combat doesn't really count towards our final grade. The smart ones blow it off." the girl began as she looked out at the rest of the trainees only to find a few of them putting minimum effort into their tasks so it looked like they were trying but really weren't at all.

"It's pointless anyways. Only the top ten cadets get to serve in the interior. The rest of us, forget it. The point is, only the idiots like you take this part of boot camp seriously. Idiots and whatever they are." continued the girl as she turned her attention to a boy and a girl practicing karate moves on each other only to be interrupted by Keith stepping in.

The girl appeared to have golden eyes, a tan shirt underneath her jacket, and brown hair. Her hair was pulled back in a ponytail that extended to the bottom of her neck. She also had bangs on both sides of her face but the majority of them parted to the left of her face.

The boy was a little bit shorter than the girl he was practicing with. He wore a yellow shirt underneath his jacket, had a slim body build making him appear to be scrawny, gray eyes, and shaved brown hair.

The blonde immediately sprung on Eren then attempting to jab him with his knife only for him to hold it back. Albeit while struggling to do so.

Gohan was initially going to stop her from doing this with his superior speed and reflexes, however, he noticed that her ki had no intentions of hurting him. So, he decided to wait and see what happened.

"First rule of this life, kid, the better you are at dropping the bad guys, the more distance there is between you. That's what this whole stupid farce is about." the girl said dangerously as she got closer to overpowering Eren.

"Sure, whatever you say!" Eren screamed as he pushed forward and grabbed the girl's arm that held the knife. Unfortunately, though, this left him open for a counterattack that the girl capitalized on by sweeping her right leg underneath his to cause him to fall again.

As soon as he landed on his back, she pulled the knife and attempted to hit his throat with it, only for Eren to grab her arms before it could hit him.

"Face it. You don't fight the nature of things and win." continued the blonde before she got off of Eren to leave him in thought. "Look around you, Eren. All they really expect us to do is play the game. Don't be a pawn."

"I think that you're wrong. By the way, my name's Gohan." Gohan said as the girl attempted to leave again. Then, with a sigh, she once again decided to give the group her attention.

"Annie. So, how am I wrong?" the girl now known as Annie questioned as she impatiently crossed her arms.

"Well, first off, the training isn't exactly pointless. It gives you experience for what to do if you're ever facing off another human. Especially if that person is attempting to harm you or others." Gohan began as Annie listened.

"I'm pretty sure you realize that too since you were taught how to fight in the first place. I don't exactly know why your father trained you but the point is, you know that this kind of training has it's uses even if it doesn't get you into the interior like you said." Gohan continued before Annie spoke up.

"What makes you so sure?" Annie questioned while Eren and Reiner listened intently to the conversation.

"Well, because I've been trained too. I know just how useful it can be. You never know when you will need to defend yourself or others so it's best to always have the skills needed to do so. I should know. I've seen good people die due to me being too weak or too inexperienced to help them. That's why I never want to slack off in my training again." Gohan declared with conviction making Eren and Reiner smile while Annie merely took in his words.

"I suppose you are right. However, it still doesn't change the fact that humans are weak and afraid." Annie countered.

"Not necessarily. I've known several people who have stepped up and fought for others and themselves against even the toughest of odds. True, they don't always win, but even the smallest bit of effort can change the outcome in a life or death situation." Gohan responded to which Annie simply nodded in acknowledgment while Eren and Reiner look at each other in thought.

"That's true. I guess you do have a point. So, since you claim to have been trained to fight, I'm curious if you have the skill to beat me. Let's find out." Annie challenged as she took her stance once again.

"Are you sure about that? I don't want to hurt you." Gohan said hesitantly.

"Yes." was all that Annie said. So, with a sigh, Gohan took a stance similar to that of Annie's except his arms were bent at the waist.

'Alright, I'm seriously going to have to hold back on her or else I will not only hurt her but I might also blow my cover.' Gohan thought while waiting for Annie to make her move.

Just then, Annie rushed him in an attempt to flip him on his back just as she had done previously to Eren and Reiner. However, Gohan was expecting this and Grabbed her arm just as it was about to reach his face.

The two stood there unmoving for a second while holding each other's arms in a stalemate before Annie decided to leg swipe Gohan just like she did with Eren. But, the hybrid saw this coming as well and as such, he released his grip on Annie and jumped over her leg.

"I've already seen those moves. You're going to have to try something else if you want to beat me." Gohan stated as he resumed his fighting stance.

"Very well." Annie said before rushing him again. Just as she got close to him, she threw a punch that Gohan merely ducked to dodge it. Gohan then countered by giving her a small jab to her gut while her fist flew over his head.

"Gah!" gasped Annie before raising her knee and hitting Gohan in the face in retaliation. Unfortunately, for Annie though, it seemed to do no damage to her opponent as the only response she got was him jerking his head back.

It was then that Gohan did a leg swipe just like Annie's to knock her off balance. When the kick was about to make contact though, she jumped.

"It's pointless to try kicks against me. They are my specialty after all." Annie claimed as both fighters stood up ready for the next move.

"You know, you shouldn't tell your opponents your fighting style. That could give them a massive advantage." Gohan advised only for Annie to watch him silently.

"I see you're no joke then. You seem to have a lot of knowledge about martial arts." Annie replied while throwing a kick at Gohan's side.

"Well, my dad was a master martial artist and he did help to train me so it's only natural." Gohan said while blocking her kick with his forearm. Gohan then threw a punch at Annie's face only for her to weave out of the way.

"I see. It appears we have some similarities then." Annie pointed out while throwing a punch of her own at Gohan's stomach only for him to grab it.

"Yeah, we do. How long have you been trained?" Gohan asked while jumping into the air to deliver an axe kick to Annie's head but she rolled out of the way.

"Since I was a little kid." She answered while dodging another punch but this time to her stomach.

"Same here. It was hard work but I feel like it paid off in the end." said Gohan while dodging a punch to his face.

"For the longest time, I felt that it was unnecessary but eventually, I did find it to be useful as well." declared the blonde while attempting to leg swipe Gohan again only for him to jump above it.

"Well, I feel like this has gone on long enough. It's time for me to get serious." Gohan stated before rushing at Annie in the blink of an eye.

Annie, who was not expecting this sudden increase in speed widened her eyes before being clotheslined and fell onto the ground on her back in pain.

"Sorry about that. I didn't mean to put that much power into it." said Gohan while standing above her with his hand out.

"It's fine. At least you've actually got some skill unlike the rest of these idiots." Annie said while taking his hand. Gohan then lifted her up.

"Well, thanks for the spar. It was fun." thanked the demi saiyan before he looked around him to see that several of the other cadets had gathered around them to watch their fight.

Some of them had looks of amazement on their faces, some were surprised, and others just seemed to be afraid of the two martial artists.

"Ignore them. They just aren't used to this kind of skill level." Annie said as she walked away.

"That was amazing! I've never seen anything like that!" Eren shouted as him and Reiner approached Gohan while the crowd began to disperse after Keith yelled at them to get back to training.

"Thanks, but it was nothing really." Gohan awkwardly laughed while rubbing the back of his head in embarrassment.

"Yeah, right. She treated us like we were nothing but ragdolls but you not only gave her a good fight but you actually beat her." Reiner chimed in.

"Thanks guys but it's not that special when you've been doing it ever since you were four years old." Gohan said awkwardly causing the two the open their mouths with wide eyes.

"Isn't that a bit young?" Reiner asked while Eren merely nodded in agreement.

"Yeah, but there were special circumstances that required me to start training at that age. I don't really want to go into it right now though. Anyways, let's get back to our training." Gohan suggested while grabbing his knife and preparing for any attacks.

* * *

Later that night, Gohan joined all the other trainees in the mess hall for a candle lit dinner since there was no electricity in this world. He hadn't grabbed his food yet but it was obvious that he was hungry due to the loud stomach groans he was having. Some trainees even found it a bit unnerving.

After finally grabbing eight plates that were full to the brim with food, Gohan sat down in an empty seat at a wooden table to begin eating. However, as soon as he sat down, he noticed that several people were looking at him with looks of confusion and envy including the brown-haired girl with a pony tail that he saw earlier while training.

"What's wrong?" Gohan asked no one in particular only for the brown-haired girl and the boy with a shaved head to scoot next to him.

"That's a lot of food you've got there. How did you get away with all of that?" the boy asked.

"This? I just went up and grabbed my ration of food that they had ready for me?" Gohan replied with uncertainty.

"They just gave you that much!?" the brunette shouted in shock while getting in Gohan's face with some drool dripping from her mouth.

"Yes!? What's wrong with that?" Gohan questioned while trying to scoot away from the girl a little. Unfortunately for Gohan though, there was no room to scoot away because the boy was on the opposite side of him.

"Knock it off Sasha, you're scaring him!" the boy scolded the now named girl. Her only response though was a shiver as she continued to blissfully drool as she looked at Gohan's food.

"Uh, is she ok?" Gohan asked with some concern only for the boy to sigh.

"Yeah, it's just that she's a glutton food so I think all of your food broke her. By the way, the name's Connie. Connie Springer." introduced the boy while offering his hand to Gohan.

"My name is Son Gohan but my given name is Gohan." Gohan said while returning the gesture. He then turned his attention back to the girl beside him as she practically had a small waterfall of drool now.

"Going back to your question though, yeah, they really did give me this much food. However, I have Commander Erwin to thank for that. I can probably share a little bit with you guys if you really want me too but I don't know if I'm allowed to or not since this was a special request." Gohan explained while getting the attention of the two beside him but for different reasons.

"You've met Commander Erwin!?" Connie gasped.

"You'll share with me!?" Sasha beamed at the same time Connie asked his question.

"Yeah, I've met him. He's pretty serious though but he's still nice. And sure." Gohan replied while handing Sasha a bowl of potato soup causing Connie to snicker.

"Figures its potato soup that you gave her. Sasha got in trouble on our first day as recruits for stealing and eating a baked potato right in front of Keith and on your first day, she's once again eating potatoes." Connie said while still snickering which elicited a raised eyebrow from Gohan and a glare from Sasha.

"I thought we agreed not to talk about that!?" Sasha yelled making Gohan begin to feel uncomfortable.

"You know, my dad actually thought marriage was food when my mom asked him to marry her as kids." Gohan laughed awkwardly in an attempt to diffuse the situation.

"Whoa, seriously? I think his dad actually has you beat Sasha." Connie laughed before beginning to eat his meal.

"Yeah, my dad and I both have enormous appetites due to our high metabolisms." Gohan laughed back.

Meanwhile, Sasha began to fantasize about how getting married because of food would be a dream come true while happily she ate her potato soup.

As the trio continued to enjoy their meals, they started to hear the voices of other people who were beginning to argue.

"Listen to you guys. Interior? Five years ago, this was part of it." Gohan heard a voice say loudly only to recognize it as Eren's.

"What're they talking about?" Gohan whispered to Connie only to get a shrug in response.

"You got a point to make, friend? I'm right here." another person asked in an irritated tone.

The owner of this second voice was a guy that light brown spiky hair that was shaved into an undercut style, with the shaved parts appearing to be dark brown in color. He had small brown eyes, a long face, and a scowl. Also, he wore a white button up shirt, tan pants, black shoes, and a brown vest.

"Poor Jean, so misguided, and besides... I don't think your head will fit in the interior anyway." Eren mocked while the now named Jean's right eye twitched with obvious irritation. This, in response, caused numerous other trainees to snicker at the remark.

Gohan, however, didn't join in on the snickering as he just stayed silent to see how the situation played itself out.

"Very Funny." was all that Jean could say due to his embarrassment and anger.

"Seems a little backwards to me. Fine-tuning your titan killing skills so the brass will station you somewhere where you'll never see one." Eren stated in disgust for Jean's preference to join the Military Police to live a life of ease instead of joining the Survey Corps.

"You'd rather I was good at getting killed? Thank you, but I'll pass. It's better to play the system than get gnawed on." Jean countered only to enrage Eren.

"You son of a B***h!" Eren yelled as he angrily stood up from the table to face Jean.

"Bring it on you little Ba****d!" Jean yelled back as he too stood up from his table.

"Eren, please stop it!" pleaded a boy that Eren had been sitting with as he too stood up.

This boy had blue eyes, pale skin, and blonde hair in a bob cut style. He was wearing a white button up shirt with his sleeves rolled up to his elbows, a gray vest, brown boots that extended up to the middle of his shins, and tan pants.

"Gentlemen, please." responded a girl from Eren's table as she too got up, walked up to the feuding pair, and separated them.

This girl had pale skin, gray eyes, a stoic face, and black hair that was cut down to her chin. Also, her hair was parted to the sides of her face except for a single bang that hung down in the middle of her face just between her eyes. As for her attire, she wore a white cardigan, a red open jacket, a gray knee-length dress, black shoes, and a red scarf around her neck.

After the girl separated Eren and Jean, there was a few seconds of silence as Eren and the girl made eye contact while holding his hand only for Eren to look away in shame. As Jean watched this though, his anger only continued to grow until he finally snapped.

"You think you can judge me!?" Jean shouted as he grabbed Eren by the shirt with his left hand.

"Huh!? If you rip my shirt, you're dead!" Eren threatened as he too became enraged.

"I don't give a d**n about your shirt! You p***ed me off! I'm so jealous!" Jean shouted back at Eren only adding fuel to the fire.

"Huh? What are you talking about!? Are you crazy!?" yelled Eren in confusion before realization hit him like a brick.

'Oh, wait. I get it... he has something to prove and is letting his emotions completely take over. Sounds familiar...' Eren thought to himself as he saw multiple other trainees including Reiner, Annie, and Gohan watching him to see how he'd handle this conflict.

'Sorry to do this.' mused Eren before quickly grabbing Jean's wrist with his left hand and placed his hand up against Jean's neck. Then, before Jean and almost anybody else could see, he used his leg to kick the back of Jean's leg causing him to lose his balance and fall onto his back and hit his head off the floor.

This of course caught the immediate attention of both Gohan and Annie as they then realized that Eren had a natural talent for hand-to-hand combat. In fact, it almost reminded Gohan of his dad.

"D**n it. What the H**l was that move!?" demanded Jean as he sat up and rubbed the back of his head in pain.

"A little something I picked up this afternoon while you were busy slacking off. You honestly believe the Military Police are your ticket to the good life? You're not a soldier, you're a joke." Eren declared as Jean watched Eren in frustration from the floor.

'I'm going to have to have a little talk with Eren sometime about better controlling his temper but I might be able to help train him if I'm able to help Ilse get stronger and use ki.' Gohan mused to himself before the door to the mess hall opened up half way.

Then, from the shadows of the night, Keith stood there in the half open doorway with a menacing look plaster on his face.

"Would someone care to explain the little ruckus I heard just now? I do hope everything's alright..." Keith said ominously only to be answered with silence while everyone that got up made their way back to their seats.

"Sasha passed some gas Commandant" answered the black-haired girl as she raised her hand while sitting to Eren's right.

This in turn caused Sasha to react in shock as she was wrongfully accused of farting while Keith entered the room.

"Why am I not surprised?" Keith condescendingly asked causing even more shock for the poor girl.

"Learn some self-control." Keith continued as he took his leave while the majority of the cadets struggled to hold in their laughter.

"Huh? I don't smell anything?" questioned Gohan while smelling the air around him for any traces of a fart only to find none.

"Give it up, man." was all that Connie could say as he began eating again while Sasha ran up to the black-haired girl while asking why she would say something like that only to get the girl's bread shoved into her mouth to get her to be quiet.

Meanwhile, Eren and Jean just continued to angrily glare at each other as they and everybody else ate their respective meals in silence.

After dinner though, it was time for everybody to head to their cabins to get some sleep for the next day of training.

Everybody except for Gohan, that is. As soon as he left the mess hall, he started heading towards the gates since Erwin fixed it so that he'd be able to leave during the night after training to do some training of his own as well as train Ilse.

However, shortly after leaving the mess hall, Gohan noticed that he had a follower.

"I know you're there." Gohan said while halting his hike to the gates.

"How did you know I was there?" Eren said as he walked up to Gohan from behind.

"I have my ways. Is there something you needed Eren?" questioned the demi saiyan.

"Where are you going? We're not allowed to leave the training grounds unless it's for a training mission." Eren asked while also informing Gohan of a rule he had not known previously.

"Wait, really? But I was told by Commander Erwin and the Commandant that I was allowed to leave any time I wanted to so long as it was night?" Gohan asked as he was now confused by this new piece of information.

"What? Why would they let you do that!? Not only that but I saw how you got so much more food than anybody else earlier. Why are you getting such a special treatment from the rest of us!?" Eren demanded as he once again was letting his anger and frustration get the better of him.

"Well, the food is because I have an extremely high metabolism and as for getting to leave at night, well, I guess it's because I'm doing some special new training with someone and Commander Erwin wants to see the results of the training." Gohan nervously tried to explained in an attempt to calm Eren down while also dodging some of the more complex reasonings.

"I see. I guess that makes sense. I take it that's how you learned how to fight as good as Annie?" asked Eren now that he calmed down after Gohan's explanation. However, he was still a little jealous.

"Actually, I'm the one doing the teaching. It's a special kind of training that I learned from my father and a mentor of mine." replied the saiyan hybrid now that Eren had calmed himself.

"Really? You must have some serious moves if Commander Erwin specifically chose you to do some special training." Eren said in an attempt to complement Gohan's fighting skills that he saw earlier.

"You could say that. You know, Eren, I was actually thinking of something earlier when I saw your little fight with Jean." Gohan said catching the boy's attention.

"What's that?" Eren mused now that Gohan had piqued his curiosity.

"Well, I was wondering, if I'm successfully able to train this one person, would you like me to train you some as well? Gohan asked.

"Wait, seriously?" You'd teach me how to fight like that? Sure, I guess but I doubt it'd help me much with my end goal." Eren replied in a thankful tone.

"What's your end goal?" questioned Gohan as he rose an eyebrow in curiosity.

"I want to kill all the titans." Eren spat while looking away from Gohan in disgust at the mere mention of titans.

"I see... Well, believe it or not, part of my training will actually help you kill titans if that's what you want to do. However, I don't want to kill them myself. I'd rather protect people without killing anything." Gohan explained to Eren as he widened his eyes.

"It will!?" Eren asked in excitement while choosing to ignore the later part of what Gohan said in favor of the former.

"Uh, yeah? I mean, if you train hard enough it would." Gohan said awkwardly as he rubbed the back of his head in response to the boy's enthusiasm.

"Alright then! You can consider it done!" Eren declared which caused Gohan to smile.

"Anyways, I better get going Eren, they're waiting on me for our first training session. I'll see you later, ok?" Gohan said as he turned to continue his hike to the gates while still looking at Eren.

"Yeah. Besides, I better get some sleep for tomorrow. Goodnight." Eren replied as he turned and started his walk back to the cabins to get some sleep.

"Goodnight Eren." replied the demi saiyan as he began his journey to meet up with and train Ilse.

* * *

After a while of walking, Gohan eventually met up with Ilse near the gates heading out to Wall Maria and into titan territory.

"Hey, Gohan! You ready for our first night of training?" Ilse inquired as the boy approached her while waving.

"Yeah, I am! But just know that it might be a little difficult for you. Especially at the beginning." warned the demi saiyan only to get a silent nod of eager anticipation from Ilse.

"Ok, when you're ready, grab onto me. I'm going to fly us over the Walls and to tonight's training spot. Just make sure to hold on tight and I'll try to go as slowly as I can." Gohan said to Ilse. Upon doing so, Ilse got behind Gohan and wrapped her arms tightly around his neck to secure herself onto him but not hard enough to restrain his movements or choke him.

Once Gohan felt that she had a firm grip on him, he reached back and picked her legs up with his arms as an extra precaution. Then, he slowly began to rise into the air.

For Gohan, this sensation was pretty normal but to Ilse, it felt almost blissful. She did nothing but look up at the top of the Walls to avoid looking at the ground. It even felt surreal.

As they continued their ascent into the air, Ilse couldn't help but just embrace the gentle breeze from their movement. If she were to be honest with herself, it even felt like when she soared through the air on her ODM gear but much less windy.

However, she also felt slightly uneasy because at least with her ODM gear, she knew that she could always catch herself if she began to fall. Choosing to push that thought aside, she just reminded herself that Gohan was there and that he'd easily be able to catch her if she were to fall and continued to enjoy the sensation.

Once they got over the Walls, Gohan began to fly towards a large forest nearby for their training and after a while, he began their decent to the ground.

"So, why did you decide to have us go here for our training? I would've thought you'd take us out somewhere more open so that we'd have room to cut loose?" Ilse questioned as the pair landed in the middle of a small clearing in the forest.

"Well, that would be ideal but for now, I need to start you off with some basic physical and mental training. Normally I would've just started you off by training you a little physically and then we'd get into ki training but we need to do something first." replied Gohan albeit a little hesitantly.

Noticing his hesitation, Ilse decided to push further on the subject.

"What would that be?" Ilse asked while suddenly beginning worry slightly due to his hesitation.

"You're not going to like it but it's going to have to be done sooner or later and I figured it'd be better to get it out of the way sooner so it doesn't become a problem when the time counts." Gohan said with a sigh although he didn't really want to do this.

Just then, Ilse began to hear some thudding around her and she immediately had an idea of what was coming.

"I know that they stop moving a little while after the sun goes down so we'll have to do this as our warmup routines while they're still able to move. That is, until you're ready to move on from it." Gohan said as Ilse got closer to Gohan for protection from the incoming titan.

"What will our warmup be exactly?" gulped the girl as she hid behind Gohan while a 12-meter titan walked into the clearing from Gohan's front.

"I'm going to make sure you don't make the same mistake I did when I had my first real fight. Ilse, I'm going to help you get over your fear of titans. Otherwise, it won't matter how strong you get, you'll still be hesitant to approach one if you ever lose your gear and that could get somebody hurt or worse." the demi saiyan declared with determination as his mind wandered back to his battle against the pure blooded saiyan named Nappa.

"Wh... What?" Ilse paled at the idea with wide eyes and sweaty hands.

"I'm going to make you unafraid of titans by having you be in contact with them until you can keep a leveled head around them." Gohan repeated as the titan drew closer and closer.

The titan then swung at Gohan and Ilse in an attempt to grab them only for Gohan to reach out with his left arm and stop its assault with his bare hand. With the titan unable to push it's hand any further, it then tried pulled its arm back and tried to smash them from above but Gohan countered it too.

Meanwhile, Ilse watched what was going on while huddled on the ground behind Gohan and away from the large hands that were being blocked left and right. It was obvious that the titan was beginning to grow impatient too as each of its attacks were failing.

Then, due to its irritation, the titan lunged at Gohan and Ilse with its teeth in an attempt to swallow them whole. However, Gohan was ready. He merely pulled his right arm back, made a fist, and thrusted his arm forward.

There was no contact, just wind. Strong wind at that. The sheer force of Gohan's punch created a powerful gale force wind that blew the titan back to the edge of the clearing until it smashed into one of the many large trees.

For Ilse, the show of strength was a mixture of inspiring, amazing, and horrifying. It was insane to think that so much strength could be held in such a relatively small body and it was inspiring to think that with his training, she could have that same level of strength if she worked hard enough.

"You see? If you don't fear them, you can think clearly and make the proper judgements to protect not only yourself but others from them and any other situation. So, each night that we train, we are going to come here and do this over and over until you can stand right beside me while I protect you but without feeling afraid. Ok?" Gohan explained as Ilse stood back up.

"I understand." replied the girl as she took a stand behind Gohan with new determination even though in the back of her mind she was still scared.

"Ok, good." Gohan smiled back at her as the titan made its way back to them.

* * *

 **And that's that for this chapter! This was by far my longest chapter yet with a little over 10,000 words! Anyways Again, I just want to apologize again for the long wait. With writing more than one story, work, friends, siblings, and managing "me time" it sometimes gets hard to get enough inspiration to write. But, hopefully I will start uploading a little more often now that I'm getting better and have a better idea of what to write. Also, I apologize for censoring the bad words. I may be 22 at the time of this chapter but I have honestly never said a bad word in my life, not even through text, and I certainly don't plan to now. And just so you know, I do mainly use the English dub for my stories but I do mix it in with the Japanese version here and there. Also, let me know if you can guess who I'm going to ship Gohan with! Keep in mind that there will be a bit of a third-party crush but only one will end up with Gohan in the end so let me know who you think this little "love triangle" will include and who you think Gohan will end up with in the end! Well, until next time!**


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